Define 'Hero'
by appabend
Summary: [Stand-Alone AU] Welcome to reality. Reality is not black and white. There are so many shades of it, but none of them that are too obvious for the eyes to see. How many events do the hero need to experience so that they can know about this? Perhaps one that includes the destruction of the world as we know it? [Rated T ; COMPLETE!]
1. Define 'Evacuation'

Alternative Universe Quick Info:

Completely New Universe and story. Does NOT follow any comics or cartoon continuity.

Required Knowledge: Members of Animated Teen Titans and Young Justice.

Including a few DC Universe-related characters from the depths of DC Wikia. Re-introduced for this fic.

##

C01: Define 'Evacuation'

 _Log In: Princess Koriand'r._

 _New Captain Log_

 _Tamaran Time: Year 1242. Month 31. Day 15. Three months and six days after escape._

 _For every week, I have been making these logs to update the things that I have found throughout my journey on the empty void. Living in here wasn't easy, but it was better than the life I endured in Tamaran, better than war._

 _I know I have written this one so many times, but it was the one that I couldn't get out of my head. The Kryptonians have taken over Palamar. At least I assumed that they have managed to take it over. We've suffered great losses, and putting me on this spaceship was a last resort that my father should've not picked. I told him it's a bad idea putting me here. I want to join in the fight. I can fight, but he wants to protect me. And now I'm trapped in space, not sure where my father is going to find me._

 _So far, I have not been able to make contact with any of them. Four cities have been attacked, including the capital. All they need to completely take over my home planet is to take that city alone._

 _It's been three months. My food supply is low. I doubt that I can survive the empty void of space for so long. Maybe one day or two if I choose to skip dinner, but I can't. I'm getting weaker. I'm desperate. I need help, or I will die._

 _Maybe father was right. Maybe the utopia that was Tamaran will one day meet their ends. Maybe I deserve the same fate that my people deserve. We had to end up being in a conflict with so many others including our own. The Kryptonians and Citadelians have gone too far. They have killed my family, my friends, and my peoples. I would kill them if I get a sight of them._

 _At least when I'm good enough to survive the hunger. At least when I can find my way to get out of this dark empty room._

##

Princess Koriand'r finished her audio log on her computer. All she could see outside was the blinking stars and the dark void surrounding it. She was surprised that this ship was able to float for days let alone months. The Tamaranean ship was built ages ago. It was an old design, but very much fuel-efficient.

The power button was the first thing that caught her eye as she finished her log. She pushed the said button and logged off the computer. Nothing more to do in there other than to let it gloat and sit in there doing nothing. It was one of the few ways for her to record her journey. The only thing that could accompany her was the sound of a humming engine, silent but incredibly deadly. She wouldn't know if one Kryptonian insect would sneak upon her and kill her at any time. She wouldn't know if someone would come and pirate her ship. Those damned pirates. The last thing she wanted them to do is to take her already depleting food supply. She would fight them. She would incinerate them for sure.

The cockpit was a one-man operation. Besides the already complicating operations of controlling a one-man Tamaran space ship, there was her battle armor just near it, still as sturdy as the moment her father crafted it for her. The shiny metals of only the best that the Tamaran planet could afford were glimmering in the lights even when it was covered by nothing but darkness. When she walked on it, the armor got her attention. It was enough to make her to push that button to turn the lights on.

The armor shined bright vibrant enough to the dark contrast of the void. A light violet color with a touch of silver on its sides. Her shoulder pads were cushioned with a solar panel modified to absorb more ultra-violet lights from the son, a source for the powers that the monstrous Kryptonians provided to her, either by bad luck or just pure greediness. Her chest plate didn't cover up her belly, a design decision proven to be surprisingly effective as her armor heated up and did nothing but burn it all the way through.

The emerald from her belt was a gift from Commander Ph'yzzon, her father's most trusted corporal and an all around charming gentleman. Ph'yzzon gifted her this for luck, but his fate suffered a huge loss. Her bottom part was nothing but a standard Tamaran army metal armor, although shortened to a little bit lower to the bottom of her knees.

Looking back at the armor can do nothing but bring back bad memories. The suffering of her people on the hands of the Kryptonians, the burning city of Palamar on the hands of the tyrannical General Zod, and the lives of innocent peoples dying at the hands of the Kryptonians. Yes, the Citadelians had a lot of work into this. However, the Citadelians were not a threat. They were just an old enemy, who sought for the help of the Kryptonians that were intellectually superior. She wasn't sure why would Zod control the Citadelians to take over and murder most of her peoples, but she was very sure that he looked for nothing but power.

The mechanical jumpsuit that she got from the storage room was the only comfortable clothing that she got. It didn't make her to look like a princess at all. It made her to look like a random intern peasant working inside the ship's engineering systems, but she was growing tired of the sound of that metal clinging with the bed. She didn't even strap it all the way up. It was too hot wearing one of those inside. The air conditioning malfunctioned several days ago and she couldn't fix it. So all that was left at her top was just her white singlet. Her back had enough of incredibly awkward bed positions. The armor was only going to make it worse and especially the jumpsuit. Might as well take her clothes off.

The princess took a seat on the cockpit and checked out for some relevant status on her spaceship. At one moment, it could be running amok and she could've accidentally turned on some of the unnecessary components that will consume the fuel.

"Fuel status: 24%." she began. "Autopilot on. Shields and thrusters online. Temperature is quite high. Fix is imminent until I am able to get out of this ship, or preferably breathe in the vacuum of space."

Things were doing normal at least for the first twenty five minutes after she woke up. She went on to her daily routine, checking up the ships and making sure that it was up and running. However, there weren't a lot of difficulties throughout the checking, not at least to the point where she was being pulled by some weird gravitational pull.

 _"EMP damage. Thrusters Powering Down."_

"What?" Koriand'r said. "Identify source."

 _"Planet E-451, also known as 'Earth'."_

"Re-assign all available powers to thrusters." 

_"Critical error."_

"How critical can it might be?"

 _"Power Lines Disconnected."_

After a few curses off of her Tamaran language, her spaceship began to lose power. Her thrusters not having enough power meant that her ship was not going to move anywhere.

"I can't fix it from the inside." Koriand'r said. "Evacuation Systems. Status?"

 _"Online."_

"Is this nearby planet habitable?"

 _"Calculating... Calculating complete. Planet Earth is 99.2% habitable."_

"Then I'm leaving." Koriand'r said. "Initiate evacuation. Target Planet Earth."

 _"Confirmed."_

Realizing that the ship was nothing but a heap of junk at this moment, she got out of her cockpit and went into the armor display. She unzipped her jumpsuit all the way down and wore the battle armor to sustain further damage. She went into her bed locker and grabbed a bag inside. She packed up her jumpsuit inside the bag and stormed into the evacuation room where the evacuation pods exist.

Putting the bag full of her personal items and herslef inside the pod was not a challenge. The pod was big enough to put it in. She can eject herself from from inside the pod, but she wasn't sure if she could endure the ejection process.

 _"Ejecting. Goodbye, Princess."_

The ship did exactly that. Princess Koriand'r held her bag tight, circling it into her body and closing her eyes to whatever kind of possibilities that might happen. She might have suicidially dive-bombed herself into the earth's surface, but it was much better than getting stuck in a ship that is about to completely lose power in the middle of the dark empty space.

She was not ready for what was about to come. The heat caused from entering the earth's atmosphere was too much for her to handle. At this moment, it was one of her nightmares come true.

At that moment, nobody can hear her scream.

##

Damian Wayne once celebrated his 17th birthday being absolutely trashed around the public by drinking god knows how many beverages that he put on that party. She knew that he was just putting an act. Someone like him could endure a lot of beer and still never get drunk. Unlike his father, he never actually got to hang around with the ladies, not that he wanted to anyway. He had never expressed any sorts of interest. Perhaps maybe he was quite as complicated as someone like Bruce Wayne, not that she knew. Bruce Wayne was a person that has never seen his son in the light of day.

The young billionaire had another hobby other than spending his drunk night. If not for his step-brother Richard Grayson, he wouldn't have been putting that Robin costume every night, patrolling Gotham City to find out the baddest of Gotham's baddest. Not a lot of crimes in Gotham lately thanks to viglantes roaming around and lots of self-defense programs given to the citizens. It was a lot more effective than viglantes, but they were still around.

"You could've dealt with that a bit faster."

"We're done here, Penny." Damian said. "Close the cave."

Robin put his storage ring into an armor display inside the bat-cave, which completely puts all of his Robin outfit so that it was being put on a display. The outfit was reduced to a molecular level and transferred into another place. A brilliant invention by Palmer Tech that was able to store a significant number of batarangs and shurikens.

"You know, if Palmer Tech didn't give you that shrinking storage ring, you'll going to remember how painful it is to take that costume out and put it back into the display."

"Yeah, more than you can think of." Damian said. "Nice to see that the ring works at least."

"It's a very dangerous technology." Julia said. "Palmer will only let a few peoples get a hand on it. Glad that he chose you."

"Yeah well, I saved him a couple of times, back when he wasn't wearing that hi-tech shrinking suit."

Julia Pennyworth had to be Damian's caretaker as her uncle Alfred receives treatment in the Gotham General for a tumor. Like her predecessor Barbara Gordon AKA Oracle, she had to watch Damian on his back through the computers. Her hacking skills were one of the best in the business, probably a lot more than Oracle at this very moment, and mostly because she retired.

"You're doing well tonight." Julia said, closing in the secret library door heading towards the bat-cave. "But I guess I know what you'd say."

"Trouble as usual." Damian said. "Time passes by and the only thing that we got is more troubles."

"You know, there's this one small institution that the government made called the GCPD?" Julia said. "They might be working on this particular trouble you're having."

Damian scoffed. "What work? If you consider counting daily paychecks from Cobblepot as work, I would give you a promotion for defecating."

Julia giggled. "Charming."

Dick Grayson once said that it was rare for Damian Wayne to display a sense of humor, but growing in Gotham City with his friends and family had shaped his personality into something closely resembling his father. While in the battlefield, she might overheard his voice threatening the other bad guys. In the battlefield, the old rough and tough Damian Wayne was in there, but at home he was a lot more relaxed, at least in terms of his personality.

"How is Alfred?" Damian asked.

"Are you planning on visiting him?"

"Of course." Damian said. "But you got to him first when I can't."

"He has a lot of things to worry about other than you." Julia said. "The doctors said that they were able to at least remove some of the tumor out of his systems, but they weren't sure about the aftermath. It could grow back anytime, so they keep him under watch."

"I can't believe it just happened, you know?" Damian said. "I cannot stand to see a family dying in that place."

"He's not dying, Damian." Julia said. "You know him. In all of that trouble, he kept his cool. He's a strong lad, one of the best in the business. He's going to get through it, just like any other times he put himself in hospital."

"I don't want this one to be his last." Damian said. "I don't want him to be put in there at all."

"Well, I can't tell you about it." Julia said. "Only time can tell."

Damian kept his head down and putting his hands on the pockets of his expensive suit. Despite Julia's insistence on asking him to wear a more relaxing outfit for day-to-day basis, but he just couldn't let go of that suit, the same way he couldn't let go of that other suit he got. It was almost like every suit was a reflection of his personality.

A few steps in the Manor's hall wouldn't cause a significant vibration. The next one however will. A sound of a huge explosion coming from the west of the Manor managed to stop the steps of the two teenagers. What should've caused a huge earthquake turned out to be just the blinkering lights. Thankfully, it didn't shake the entire manor down because that would be extremely problematic. Instead, what happened was a large shroud of cloud coming up on the Bristol Forest.

"What was that?" Damian asked.

"Whatever that was, it came from Bristol." Julia said as she checked the point of impact on her phone.

"I'm going to suit up." Damian said. "I'm going there."

"Do you really have to suit up?" Julia said. "I mean it's not that far."

"It could be dangerous." Damian said. "Can't risk anyone coming in closer to it."

##

Robin rode his motorcycle through the Bristol Forest. The dirt motorcycle that he bought was enough to get through the hard terrains. It was more than enough to put him a lot into trouble. Since it was around midnight, barely anyone was passing the Bristol highway, so there was only him and the tress passing by.

"There's a lot of fire here." Robin said. "Get emergency down here."

 _"The press is going to love it by the time they found you there."_

"Screw the press." Robin said. "If nobody clears out this forest, Gotham's going to have a breathing problem."

 _"Your call."_

He arrived to the impact point. The Bristol forest was quite dense, but there was still enough space for him to roam around that place with a dirt bike. Whatever kind of object that caused the explosion and the fall broke through several hard oaks, causing a major fire throughout the forest. Robin was able to get through that and finally arrive at the source of the entire mess.

It was some form of an escape pod with the size of a human. According to Robin's material scanner built on his mask, he was unable to identify the metal that was engrained in the said pod. If it was human made, the scanner would've picked it. Not even NASA has a database on it.

"Metal is unidentifiable." Robin said.

 _"Oh wow."_ Julia said. _"Could it be alien?"_

"Yeah well," Robin said. "Let's not jump into conclusions."

When it was engulved in flames, Robin took a cryo grenade and blasted some parts of the crashed pod to take out the flames covering up pretty much most of the entire thing thanks to the branches and the trees. After the cryo grenades did their job, Robin approached the said escape pod and took a closer look.

"It's open." Robin said. "The pod is open."

There was a sound of a click that can be heard from the back of his neck, and the sound of something charging and powering up. Whoever came out of that pod just pointed something harmful towards him. He was in deep trouble.

 _"Who are you?"_


	2. Define 'Experiments'

C02: Define 'Experiments'

The princess just remembered that she was using her native language. There was only one way for her to know the language of this person.

The princess grabbed the man on his arms and turned him around to meet his face. Once she saw his face, she immediately brought her lips into his. A surprised moan came out of him, as how most languages are learnt from Tamaranean. Once she was done, she pushed him back and turned him around. She raised her plasma blaster to the back of his head and continued her question.

"Who are you?" Koriand'r asked.

Koriand'r did not expect to deal with someone with an elaborate clothing, complete with a mask and a mysterious persona behind all of that. She would expect that this person dress up in this manner to intimidate someone, but there was more to it than just mere intimidation. This was an armor, and he was going up for a battle.

He did answer it by turning around in a swift manner and kicking her arms to put her Plasma Blaster out of the way. The man continued his barrage of attacks by punching her, but being trained by the warlords of Okaara was a huge benefit for her. The Princess retaliated by blocking most of his punches and grabbed his hand. She grabbed his shoulder and flipped him over, slamming him into the ground.

The man had quite the endurance and a surprising reflex. Just as Koriand'r stomp him, he rolled up the front. He managed to regain his posture, but instead of charging more towards the princess, he put both of his hands up front and asked her.

"Wait." he said. "I don't want to fight you."

"Then tell me everything."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Well... I can, but not all of it."

Koriand'r sharpened her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I can give you a few answers, but if you want to know more, this isn't the place." he said. "My name is Robin."

"Greetings." Koriand'r said. "My name is Princess Koriand'r."

There was an astonishment coming out of his eyes. "Princess? I... wow. You're really an alien?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I mean... you come from another planet?"

"Yes."

He grabbed both of his knees down and took a breath. "We... we never had a visitor like you."

"Well, here I am." Koriand'r said. "I need a spaceship."

"For what?"

"I do not wish to disturb your planet and cause this... destruction." Koriand'r said. "I need to come back to my home planet. I have to stop the Kryptonians to take over my people."

"Well, there's a little bit of problem with that."

"What's the problem?"

"We..." Robin began. "We don't have the technology yet."

There it was. Only a few words managed to shatter her hope of coming back. The only one hope to come back was her spaceship, and it was stranded lord knows where in space.

"Are you certain?"

"I'm very certain." Robin said. "But I know a place where you can stay for a while."

"I don't need a place to stay." Koriand'r said. "I need to go back home."

"You can't." Robin said. "You can only stay here. I'm afraid that you're going to need to fit in before you get your spaceship. You're a stranger. You need a guide. Besides, you're lucky that I stumbled upon you first. If it was the government, they're going to subject you to experiments."

"Experiments?"

"So either you come with me, or the government comes down and hunt you." Robin said. "I know how to keep you safe from them. Do we have an agreement?"

Koriand'r sighed. "Yes."

"Great." Robin said. "First, you need to destroy this space pod. Leave no trace. Make it look like rocks. Can you do that with your weapon?"

##

It was quite weird for Robin to bring in a rather seriously attractive humanoid alien into the Bat-Cave. The alien, a woman with a tanned skin and a long red hair, was sitting on the couch with her purple metal armor, which was also unidentifiable. Of course, Robin revealed his identity to her, and he gave her quite the assurance to not tell it to anyone.

"So this 'Tamaran' was your home planet?" Julia said.

"Yes."

"And the Citadels and the Kryptonians are trying to take it over?"

"Yes."

"Have they?"

"I don't know." Koriand'r said. "Not until I see it myself."

"Have you ever been in contact with anyone in Tamaran?" Damian asked.

"No." Koriand'r said. "My communications are not able to reach a place that far."

"Not even e-mails?" Julia asked.

"What's an 'e-mail'?"

Damian sighed. "You should... probably use less Earthling phrases, Penny."

"I don't know." Julia said. "She speaks English very well."

"English?" Koriand'r said. "So that's how you call this language?"

"Yeah." Damian said. "How did you learn that?"

"By kissing you."

Julia nodded her head, hearing something that was quite surprising. "Oooh... that was something."

"Stop it." Damian said. "The important part right now is that you are here on Earth. You look like human, so it would be fitting if you would adapt to our ways."

"Why would I do that?"

"I've told you." Damian said. "The government doesn't like aliens like you roaming around Gotham City. The government will not notice if you're a normal human. Thanks to your humanoid physiology, it's a lot easier for you to adapt."

"Why are the government wanting to experiment on... visitors?"

"Because believe it or not, you are the first visitor from outside of Earth." Damian said. "We're practically at the time where we're begging for something or someone or any other alien beings to come down to Earth and make contact with us. Well, here you are making contact, and the most dangerous part is that you're alone."

"I... understand." Koriand'r said. "I have been subjected into numerous experiments. The last thing I want is to be subjected even more."

"What kind of experiments have you subjected into?" Julia asked.

"If you don't know it yet, I have powers." Koriand'r said. "My power relies on absorbing ultraviolet light either from the sun or from other organic matters. However, my race is only able to absorb that power, but not utilize it. The Kryptonians did some experiments to me with the help of the Psions. They wanted to see how much energy that a Tamaranean can absorb before exploding."

"And you were one of their subjects?" Damian said.

"Me and my sister." Koriand'r said. "We both managed to escape out of the facility and we used both of our powers to take them down."

"So what this power allows you to do?" Julia said.

"I can create these... starbolts." Koriand'r said. "A little demonstration, perhaps?"

"Uh... not here. Not in the cave. And not now." Damian said. "Just tell me how it works."

Koriand'r showed a green plasma energy coming out of her hand.

"I simply do this and throw this into my opponents." Koriand'r said.

"Is it lethal?" Damian asked.

"I can make it one."

"Keep it non-lethal." Damian said. "If you have that kind of powers, the last thing you want is for innocent peoples to die."

"That is the last thing I wanted." Koriand'r said. "You have no idea how my planet and my people suffered by the Kryptonians. That war has cost me thousands. If I see them anywhere, I'm not going to be hesitant to kill them."

"Well, no reports on alien activities so far." Damian said. "So you're lucky."

"Uh... Damian," Julia said. "8:00AM, important board meeting. Don't be sleepy."

"Right." Damian said. "I'm very sorry. I need to take a rest, and I think you should too. You must be tired."

"After breaching through your atmosphere, I cannot imagine." Koriand'r said.

"For the moment Julia is going to take care of you." Damian said. "Be nice to each other."

"That I can do." Julia said.

"We will." Koriand'r said.

"Good."

Damian left the bat-cave, leaving the two attractive women for a bit of a run.

"So uh..." Julia said. "I'm not really that tired."

"Well, to be honest neither am I." Koriand'r said.

"So where to begin?" Julia said. "If you're going to blend in with the other earthlings, you're going to need an earth name. You say that your um... Tamaranean name is... Koriand'r, right?"

"Yes, but if I translate it to your language, it means... Starfire."

"Oh, that's an amazing codename." Julia said. "I mean a hero title, you know?"

"Hero?"

"Yes." Julia said. "If you're going to... oh wow."

"Wow... what?"

"You... fly."

Julia noticed that her legs were a few feet hovering up the metal bat-cave floors. Koriand'r noticed this and dropped down.

"Yes, it's one of my many abilities." Koriand'r said.

"That would be useful when you're going to help peoples, you know?"

"Right." Koriand'r said. "I meant no offense, but the way you speak your English language is... strange."

"Oh, yeah I have an accent." Julia said. "I'm from London. It's a place far from here."

"Oh alright." Koriand'r said. "I understand."

"Hey you know what, you're going to need a new Earth name." Julia said. "If your name is Koriand'r, let's play it down a bit. So your Earth name is..."

Julia, who was sitting on a computer desk chair with wheels, rolled herself into the bat computer and typed in a few words.

"Congratulations, Princess Koriand'r." Julia said. "Your earth name is... Caroline Anders."

"Caroline... Anders?"

"Yup." Julia said. "Didn't expect that out of the woodwork, did you?"

"I... well maybe." Koriand'r said.

"So from now on, your name's going to be Caroline Anders, and your nickname's going to be Kory, so Kory Anders." Julia said. "Ain't that spectacular?"

"Um... yes it is." Kory said.

"Now what you're going to need to learn next is proper earthling etiquette." Julia said. "Let's start with greetings."

##

Someone like Amanda Waller had enough problems to deal with in the grand scheme of things. It's the year 2022 and dangerous ideologies managed to invest the wasteland that is the Middle-East. If that wasn't a problem, a civil war just broke on the south of Africa, and there was quite a tension that ARGUS and the American government just couldn't handle and take sides.

And then there was the threat of an extra-terrestrial alien invasion. After a few times of gathering intelligence, Waller's agents were able to get the knowledge of alien presence that can be proven, and that these aliens were walking among humans. The only problem was to find a way to get these aliens and wipe them out for good before they start to take over the Earth.

She decided to send her latest pet project. A few years ago, the vigilante group in Gotham known as the Bats managed to take down Ra's Al Ghul, the not-so immortal leader of the League of Assassins. The League managed to expose their base of operations in Nanda Parbat, and there lied the Lazarus Pit. Waller wanted to harness the power of the Lazarus Pit and stabilize it so that there were no other complications and resurrections can be done about as easy as that.

The bats continued their run for a few years until the death of two of their members: Timothy Drake AKA Red Robin and his step-sister Cassandra Cain. Waller was able to get Tim Drake's body and submit him into the new Lazarus to see what kind of effects that it will bring. Waller classified Tim Drake as officially dead, but in truth he was in coma, and just regained his consciousness after three years of absence.

Somewhere in a dark room, Waller sat right on a chair. Across the table separating them was Tim sleeping with his head on the table above his arms. He was cuffed into the table to ensure that he was not going anywhere. Tim regained his breath and woke up. Waller gave him the proper greetings.

"Good Evening, Mr. Drake." Waller began.

Tim glanced at Waller with surprise. He was about to move a little bit, but he got his hand cuffed into the table.

"Waller," Tim began. "What... what are you doing with me?"

"You have been in a coma." Waller said. "You noticed that I have taken proper care of you."

"I... why?"

"Remember the Gotham Uprising?" Waller said. "You have saved my little child Coretta. If it weren't for you, she wouldn't have been here. I owe you a great debt."

"Yeah, you're welcome." Tim said. "Now get me out of here."

"Not so fast." Waller said. "Don't you want to know what happened to you?"

"I..." Tim calmed down and took his seat back. "Where am I?"

"You're in ARGUS facility, Gotham Branch." Waller said. "Shouldn't be too far from your home."

"What happened to my friends?"

"Your friends are doing very well." Waller said. "All with the exception of your step-sister, but you already knew that."

"So you saved me but you didn't save Cassandra?"

"We have tried our best, but we couldn't save her." Waller said. "I'm sorry."

"You damned right you are."

"I understand why you are furious."

"Oh yeah, other than you cuffing me up in this chair and putting me in ARGUS when I'm in coma? I'm good." Tim said. "I didn't even count the many times you tried to kill me."

"I didn't try to kill you. My men have gone rogue out of their missions." Waller said. "Which is why I'm trusting you for something that I want you to do."

"How long have I been in coma?"

"Three years."

"What?" Tim said. "Three years and you don't want to tell me what happened in between?"

"I will, but only if you listen to my proposal." Waller said. "This might sound ridiculous, but our world right now has been invaded by... unknown forces beyond our world."

"Aliens?" Tim scoffed. "I presume that you're serious when you say that."

"I am in every bit of way serious, Mr. Drake, or maybe should I say Red Robin?" Waller said. "I wouldn't be here if I weren't."

"So... aliens?" Tim said. "What kind?"

"They called themselves Kryptonian." Waller said. "We have captured one of the aliens and interrogated them, but he escaped out of the facility.

Waller ordered her men to hand Tim over a folder containing the briefing. Tim opened it up to see a human face.

"This isn't an alien."

"Humanoid in physique, but alien in the rest." Waller said. "He has superhuman strength, high durability, endurance, and is a threat to the whole world."

"What, you call this guy with a straight emo haircut an alien?" Tim said. "What's stopping you from taking Michael Jackson already?"

"This alien has called himself Kon-El." Waller said. "He said that he's from planet Krypton, far away from here. He has proven himself to be a dangerous fighter, and has destroyed a significant portion of our labs back in Washington."

"Did you forget to lock on the armory when he escapes?"

"He doesn't need our armory." Waller said. "He can use his bare hands."

Tim glanced at Waller in surprise. "Wait, so you're saying that this whole lab crushing down like it was being an earthquake was all his doing... with his bare hands?"

"I know it sounds unbelievable."

"Because it is."

Tim snapped out of his cuff in a moment using a pin that was actually concealed on his jumper suit. "If you're going to look for an agent to stop aliens, look somewhere else. I'm out."

Tim stood up from his table and was about to move, but Waller's two other guards prevented him from getting out of the room. Waller issued an order to both of them.

"Let him go." Waller said. "He'll be back."


	3. Define 'Miracle'

C03: Define 'Miracle'

The next day, Kory woke up from some sort of a royal palace in a bed that felt just like home, made of the best silk and sinking her into her dream worlds better than the rocks and the mattresses that she once slept with during the war. It's also a lot better than the ship's normal bed because of the huge space. She could move her body around and it didn't have to tie up into one specific place.

Kory had quite the etiquette lessons from Julia Pennyworth, or Penny as Damian like to call her. She was a very nice woman with a strange accent and a skin darker than most peoples off of her world. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she could get a more welcoming entry on Earth if she stayed in that pod a lot longer. She was glad that she found Damian, the mysterious royal man who put on his knight outfit every night to fight crime, at least that's what Julia said to her.

"Sleep well?"

The expensive suit provocateur Damian called her all the way across the room right near the entrance of her personal room. This room was said to be Thomas and Martha Wayne's room, the paternal grandparents of Damian. Julia mentioned about how successful they were back when they were still alive until the unfortunate accidents that took their life.

"Um... yes." Kory said. "I'm sleeping very well. It's been a while since I sleep in a royal palace."

Damian scoffed. "This isn't a royal palace."

"It may not be, but it's a lot better than sleeping in caves or rocks."

"The war had gotten you." Damian said. "How long have you been fighting?"

"I don't recall." Kory said. "Three years, I think?"

"How old are you?"

"Julia calculated my Earth age and she said that I'm 18." Kory said. "My Tamaran age is nine, but it is irrelevant now."

"Calling yourself nine is... quite significant here."

"Well, yes I know." Kory said. "Tamaran's rotation was 48 Earth hours a day and yours was obviously a lot faster than that, which may take some time to get used to."

"I don't know about that." Damian said. "I mean I've never been to a 48 hours a day planet."

"Well, I'm a stranger here too so..." Kory said. "Anyway, I wanted to say thank you... for all of this. After watching the news and these 'movies' that Julia told me, I highly doubt that I can get the same treatment from others."

"Of course you aren't." Damian said. "The first thing peoples are going to do when they found out about you is that they're going to be scared."

"I know." Kory said. "I'm fascinated by these 'movies' that Julia showed. It was like a play or a drama stage in my home planet, but instead of being acted in front of everyone when they're doing it, it was recorded. We have never thought about that, probably because we were focusing too much on creating a utopia."

"Did you make it?"

"Well, it was all good, at least all before the war." Kory said. "I also wanted to thank you about something."

"What's that?"

"I've been... really lonely for the past three months." Kory said. "It drives me crazy. I'm just glad that I have someone I can rely on, and someone I can talk to."

"You can count on me. Don't worry about that." Damian said. "Anyway, I need to go."

"Where?"

"I have a work to do." Damian said. "I am running a billion dollar corporation. My superiors have been waiting for my presence. I'm off the work tomorrow. So if you have time, I'll show you around the city, or maybe Julia will. I'm just hoping she doesn't spoil the good parts."

Kory smiled. "I'd love to."

##

Timothy Drake's first stop was to Wayne Enterprises, as it seems to be the closest place that he could think of at that moment. He wasn't wearing anything special, just a grey hoodie with a red t-shirt underneath. To be fair to Waller, this clothing was a pretty good bet. Entering in and out of the place would be not too much of an effort.

A lot have changed ever since he entered the Wayne Tower. The door was still automatic. The cameras were put in the same place. The materials that were covering up most of the walls were changed into a colder, more reflective metal. Wayne was always engrained in grey and blue with a little touch of wooden exteriors. If it wasn't for the metal floor, there wouldn't have been a clinging noise when he stepped on the floor.

The elevator was in the center of the receptionist area. He skipped the receptionist part and went straight into the elevator. He knew that Damian was residing at the top working on a meeting of some sort. The receptionist however, noticed him walking towards the elevator, who was only classified for employees.

"I'm sorry, sir." she said. "This area is for employees only."

Tim didn't care for her and just slipped in his thumb into the scanner. Damian, who controlled the entire company, had given him access to pretty much all of the company, which was quite a surprising move considering how he had declared himself to be his rival or something like that. It was probably because of the trust that he built throughout the years. To be honest, Damian is okay, as long as he doesn't get into his bad sides, which is unfortunately all the time.

The elevator opened with Tim Drake registered in the database, which astonished the receptionist. She didn't even try to stop him even after Tim gave her a bewildered shrug. Even after that cheap ass looking grey hoodie was not enough to stop her. He wasn't wearing a proper suit for once, not that he wanted to at that moment.

##

"The project is going nice and smooth." Loren said. "But I'm concerned about STAR Labs. I'm more concerned about their practices in recent times."

"Care to inquire me?" Damian said.

Loren handed over some files on his research on STAR Labs.

"There are a few concerns that I have about STAR Labs right in there." Loren said. "Yesterday, STAR Labs suffered from an electromagnetic pulse explosion, one which has completely caused the blackout of the five cities surrounding it. It did not reach Gotham City, but when I wanted to acquire some of the relevant details, they deny any inquiries until they resolve the situation."

"It was just a hiccup. What do you expect? They're doing experiments." Damian said. "So far, we don't have any issues with STAR Labs and Dr. Stone has contributed heavily on this project. What makes you think that STAR Labs is compromised?"

"Three years ago, STAR Labs put an experimental cure for a rare disease that your friend Garfield Logan had." Loren said. "The ship that brought Mr. Logan back to Gotham sank during the way."

"So are you saying that STAR Labs developed a cure that turned Gar into a monster that destroyed the entire ship?" Damian said. "There was no monster, Mr. Jupiter. It was a huge storm. Garfield himself was presumed dead, although the body is not found."

"Have you sent a rescue team?"

"I've sent everyone that I can to search for the nearby area, but I couldn't find him and not even his parents." Damian said. "We've scanned in deep inside the oceans where we found the ship's wreckage and none of Garfield's parents or even Garfield himself was found, so the rescue team have concluded their search. Is that your only concern?"

"There's also the explosion that happened a year ago." Loren said. "That has caused the death of Dr. Stone's son, Victor. I have no doubts that it caused quite the strain on his mental health."

"Well, you have a point about his conditions." Damian said. "But I still have faith in him. We need his intelligence. He's a brilliant engineer. He's going to contribute a lot for this project."

"Okay, it's your call." Loren said. "I am just concerned."

"You very well should be." Damian said. "This deserves concern, and I'm not ignoring it. It's just that they're doing well now that-"

It was exactly when Damian was able to find him, the stubborn man once called one of the smartest peoples in Gotham City. Timothy Drake was standing right on the other side of the meeting room. The room was surrounded with transparent soundproof glass. By the time he glanced at Tim, he halted every word that was about to come out of his mouth, and exclaimed his surprise.

"My god."

The board directors caught in to Damian's eyesight and found Tim Drake standing among them. Tim walked inside the meeting room. There were a few empty seats in there, so Tim took one right across the son of demon.

"No, go ahead." Tim said. "Don't worry about me. I'm just here to listen."

##

To think that Damian just saw a miracle was quite an understatement. Not only that, he saw two miracles in a span of 24 hours. Timothy Drake was not the kind of person who would get out of hiding or fake his death, so there was probably a much better explanation for all of that. To get Tim up to speed, Damian asked him to meet up at his room where they can talk further, and so that Damian could give him the suit that he wanted.

"So," Tim began as he entered Damian's executive room. "I guess you win."

"Win what?"

"When I'm not looking after my company, you said screw it and bought all of their assets." Tim said. "Now my company is yours. All that pointless fight we had and you're the one ended up winning."

"Well, I didn't win. I'm just alive." Damian said. "Even if you were still alive, I'm still not going to win."

"I doubt it." Tim said. "I got a lot sloppier for the past couple of days."

"You mean crappier?"

"Yeah, that's an apt comparison." Tim said. "How are you doing?"

"I'm not doing well." Damian said. "I've had enough of miracles for a day."

"What do you mean 'miracle'?"

"A meteor just dropped right near Briston." Damian said. "Went on to investigate it during patrol. Turns out to be a meteorite of an unidentified metal."

Tim's face went slightly bitter. "Alien?"

"Not sure." Damian said. "Maybe it was. Maybe the fire got my scanners wrong, but one thing certain, it's from outer space. Why?"

"I..." Tim sighed. "Never mind. Doesn't matter."

"That one doesn't." Damian said. "What matters is how the hell did you wake up?"

"Waller put me up." Tim said. "I saved Coretta, her daughter. She owed me one I guess, but she then asked me to do something."

"What is it?"

"Some stupid spy mission or something." Tim said. "She's going to use me because peoples think I'm dead."

"Well you're not dead, so there's that." Damian said. "You're going to be too useful for her. ARGUS is not exactly clean on their operations. If you would just work with her, it would make things ten times easier for me to break down their operations."

"I'm not interested, Damian." Tim said. "I'm not James Bond."

"Well, you were." Damian said. "Remember when the League was trying to assassinate the England Prime Minister? We were infiltrating the party for Middle-Eastern terrorists. That sounds like Bond to me."

"That was dumb." Tim said. "Although we did great on that one."

"You screwed up a couple of times."

"I didn't. You did."

Damian smiled and scoffed. "Now I begin to miss bantering with you, at least when Stephanie wasn't there to interrupt."

"Where are the others?" Tim said. "Are you guys still active?"

"Nope. I'm the only one active from the group." Damian said. "Dick and Barbara made quite a family together. I'm too young to retire from all of that. And Stephanie, she's..."

"What?"

"She's... not well." Damian said. "It's not that she's not happy. It's just that you've been lost for three years and she always called me that she couldn't find anyone else."

"Jesus." Tim said. "I'll get to her."

"You'd shock her."

"I know." Tim said. "I just need to make sure she's alright."

"She's alright. Just... sad."

"I'd rather see her myself."

"Well, suit yourself." Damian said. "You're going to need phone, money, ID, all those stuff. I think I stored most of your personal items in the manor."

"Still live there?"

"No place like home." Damian said. "Oh and Julia is in there. Alfred is... not very well."

"What happened?"

"He got a tumor and just went out of a surgery." Damian said. "Didn't have time to visit him, but I'll get to him at five. If you want to visit, just stay in the manor for a while. I'll pick you up."

"I will."

"You don't want a ride?" Damian said. "Get on my bike. It's on the basement."

Tim scoffed. "Back then, you wouldn't have given me that easily."

"I'm better now." Damian said. "At least better than when I was ten."

"Trust me. Back then, I would've thrown you out of the window if you sit on that chair." Tim said. "We'll see about the 'better' part later."

##

There was something a little bit off on the way she treated him. Conner just went up into this world not knowing exactly what to do, and then she came up to him. Everything she did to him, everything she did for him, it was nothing but kindness, sincerity, something that he had yet to see for quite a while. Too many peoples have died on his hands. Too many violence has been inflicted, pointless violence. It was refreshing to see someone as kind as her to accept him around.

Stephanie Brown. Oh why would she do all of that to him, as if he was the one who deserved it? She was one strange girl, and it was incredibly admiring.

It was probably a bit ridiculous to say that he had developed some feelings to her even after they were only in it for just a day. She was too kind, too compassionate, someone who changed his view of things, and somehow after all of that she managed to know him in just the view of an eye.

And right now, they're sharing a bed together. He didn't expect for things to go this fast.

He remembered when he first met her. It was just in the morning where he woke up in an unfortunately bad time at this place called Gotham City. He had no idea what was happening, and the only thing that he know was that he just woke up from a bad sleep and someone was threatening him at gunpoint.

 _"Give me your money! I said give me your money!"_

 _"I... I don't have..."_

 _"Give it or I'll shoot you!"_

That's where Stephanie came into him, pulling his other hand in the back and twisting it in a way that caused him quite a pain. When the guy decided to redirect his gun's aim towards the girl, Stephanie easily snatched it out from his hand in seconds and literally broke it into pieces. After that, she knocked the guy out by lifting the guy and slamming him head first into the side wall.

Conner, or at least Kon-El when he didn't get his Earth name yet, could only open his mouth in astonishment to the display. The girl with the long blonde hair and hypnotizing blue eyes redirected her attention from the robber to Kon, and she made a quip.

 _"Quite desperate that you have to rob a homeless man."_ she said, with a smile coming out of her face and not even a single frown. _"Are you alright?"_


	4. Define 'Sinister'

C04: Define 'Sinister'

 _"I... I'm... I'm fine."_

 _"Great."_ Stephanie said. _"That's one less thug to handle."_

Stephanie was about to leave the place, but Kon-El stopped her. _"Wait. I..."_

Stephanie raised her eyebrows on him.

 _"I... I'm a bit lost I... I need some help."_

 _"What happened to you?"_

 _"I... I can't remember."_

Thankfully, Stephanie was the kind of person who were smart enough to make assumptions, and Kon-El was able to use those assumptions to hide his alien identity, including the assumption of his name. After going through all of this, the last thing he wanted was to lie to her, but he had no choice.

 _"So... what's your name?"_

 _"I... I don't know."_

 _"Really?"_

 _"I... well... I think I can... I... Kon..."_

 _"Conner?"_

 _"I... yeah I think it is."_

 _"So... Conner? You can't remember anything?"_

 _"I... I don't."_

 _"Wow. That's... can you remember anything about what happened to you... before I mean?"_

 _"I... I can only remember war... peoples dying..."_

 _"So you're a war veteran?"_

 _"I... yes."_

 _"Where?"_

 _"I..."_

 _"The Middle-East? Africa? Korea?"_

 _"I... think it was the Middle-East."_

 _"Okay, keep it there. I don't want to trigger bad memories."_

 _"Okay..."_

She was kind enough to not dwindle in the past. It was hard for him to construct a human past. The best way was to look as vulnerable in front of her as possible. He wanted to gain her sympathy, but there was something beyond all of that. Was it the way that her eyes kept on constant focus to him, or maybe was that every question was direct and specific? Could it remind him of someone that he used to know?

 _"I... was on my own war. I... lost a few friends too... really close ones."_

 _"What war?"_

 _"It's Gotham City. It's war in every second."_

 _"Gotham... City?"_

 _"Oh, you don't remember that as well."_

That's when Stephanie brought him around. They were eating on a café one time and he was eating a whole lot more than normal (what Stephanie concluded as the cost of being homeless). She brought him into Gotham's most wonderful places. She brought him into the Wayne Tower, the Robinson Park, a lot of beautiful places in Gotham. It just showed that despite how tragic and terrible Gotham might be, it still had all the lights.

The best part was when she brought him into the orphanage, seeing humanity's youngest and brightest doing their activities. She said that she was helping, but there was a bigger reason why she did.

 _"When I was a teenager, I was reckless and stupid. I was just... an all-around bitch. I post nudes, go into Twitter to bully peoples around, being a total hypocrite, and I'm really bad. Lots of boys like the bad girls. So I get to hung up with the really bad ones. Then I got my eyes opened. I was pregnant with a baby. I don't know what to do with it. It's my kid and I have a better life ahead, so I had to bring her here."_

 _"How old were you?"_

 _"I was sixteen. I brought my baby here and I left Gotham. I want to... fix things with me. Then I came back here three years later to find out that she's happy now. Right now, I always visit her. I told her that I'm her adopted mother's friend, and we were close."_

 _"What's her name?"_

 _"Her name is... Cindy."_

Beyond all of this Earth, there was a life. Peoples were fighting for something that they deemed to be necessary. Peoples were fighting for something that they thought was important. Stephanie had shown him the risks and rewards of going through a life where there was no war and there was no punishment. Well, there _is_ war. It's just that the kind of war she was fighting for was different.

 _"You're quite interesting, you know that?"_

 _"How?"_

 _"I have a friend who went on to search your face in the database. Guess what? Literally no match. So if you ask me, I think you're some secret agent hired by the government who wants to disappear completely because someone is looking to interrogate you. So you find someone who wanted to erase your memory out of existence so that when they interrogate you, you would be telling the truth."_

 _"That's... ridiculous."_

 _"Nothing is ridiculous in Gotham. Either that or you're lying."_

 _"Lying? I... I didn't-"_

 _"I know you don't, because if I know you were lying, I know exactly what body part to break so that you'll end up begging me to stop."_

Her face turned from a cheerful, happy and compassionate girl into a surprisingly threatening and intimidating look, especially the way she said it, it was almost like she had put this threat before. It caught him by surprise, and he honestly was a bit scared of it.

 _"I'm just kidding. What makes you think I can do that?"_

Stephanie's rather cheerful face was constant throughout. Their journey ended up with Conner having to stay on her apartment because he didn't have anywhere else to live.

 _"You're letting me to stay there?"_

 _"Yeah sure. The only downside is that I have only one bed, so someone's going to need to sleep in the couch."_

 _"I'm good there."_

 _"Well, I'm... not so sure about that."_

A confused Conner got a lot more confused by the time Stephanie went up to his head and put her lips on his. That kiss was like being flipped over into a nearby galaxy. Her breath sucking him out was like being sucked into the vacuum of space. He honestly didn't know what the hell he did to deserve this sort of treatment, but if she wanted to, he went on with it.

That was until they were in the bed. They had quite a good night sleep. The day came very fast compared to the times where he was in Tamaran, but the last thing he wanted is to remember Tamaran, and to enjoy life for what it is right now.

The time showed 5:50 AM. Conner woke up from the bed and went into the bathroom to do some business. After he did so, he went into the sink. There was a mirror on the sink, a typical design choices even for the Kryptonians. He glanced at the mirror to see his face: Dark hair, straight 'emo' as Stephanie described it, and it somehow managed to gain her attraction.

"A little bit early to wake up."

Stephanie was on the door, leaning on its side with her arms crossed. She was only wearing both of her underwears for that time, and smiling at him with her dark blue eyes that was about as piercing as a Kryptonian knife.

"Yeah." Conner said. "I was uh... not so tired."

"Well, maybe we should do something when we're still awake." Stephanie said. "You want to go out?"

"What, this early?"

"Sure." Stephanie said. "There's a 24 hour fast food nearby. Let's get some breakfast."

##

A few minutes ago, Tim went towards Stephanie's new apartment just as Damian told. He put the doorbell on and on, but nobody replied. Damian provided most of her financial support, because she felt like she had to be everyone's mother including Damian. Not surprising considering Stephanie's bossy and demeaning behaviors that she had to be someone else's slave.

So instead he opted to visit Dick Grayson first, who retired and got himself a job in the police. At least he got himself an honest job this time, a job where he still needed to fight the good fight, or at least a job where he can still fight. He came in at a time where he should've come home for lunch, because most police officers did at this time.

Honestly, ringing that doorbell was about as difficult as when he had to deal with the bad guys when he wasn't being trained by Cassandra Cain, the mute ex-League of Assassins member and step-sister, one of the many things that he lost when dedicated his entire career on crime-fighting tight-wearing masquerade. It's not that he didn't regret it. Gotham was a better city to live in. It was the risk of the job, and he didn't blame himself for it, at least for the most part.

The doorbell rang. There was no one else to pick the door other than Dick Grayson himself, wearing his GCPD uniform. He cannot speak and describe the astonishment that came out of his face. The slightly long hair that Tim Drake always had was quite apparent there, and his recognizable face was easy enough to figure out.

"Oh my god." Dick said. "Oh my..."

"I'm sorry." Tim said. "I didn't... I didn't even know I'm-"

Dick stopped him to spew more bullcrap and just went straight into the hugging, or more accurately being magnetized by his above average body structure. Tim did nothing else but to reply back with another hug in a friendlier way, causing him to smile back.

"I missed you, bro." Dick said. "I missed you so much."

"Hey, I missed you too." Tim said. "I'm sorry that I didn't call. You're going to get overly excited."

"I still am." Dick said. "God knows how much I needed you here right now."

"Need me?"

Tim released the hug to see Dick's slightly older face, but there was someone else who was a lot more surprised than the Boy Wonder. His lover Barbara Gordon was just behind and had her hands covering her widely open mouth, trying to just not get shocked by any of this ridiculousness happening in front of her eyes.

"Oh my god." Barbara said, her tone got slightly higher. "Oh... my god."

"Hey, Babs." Tim said. "Wow. Nice to see you standing."

Barbara didn't stay in there for long and made her steps to hug her long lost friend. By the time she did, he could feel tears coming out of her. It was certainly tears of joy, but he could feel a lot of bitter coming out of her breath as well.

"Where have you been?" Barbara said. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I've been asleep." Tim said. "I'm sorry."

##

 _"A hacker managed to hack in through five banks in different cities: Gotham, Central, Star, Metropolis, and recently Brooklyn. The amount of money lost in total is exactly one billion dollars."_

"Goddamn hackers." Barbara said. "Their tricks just got better."

Tim was observing the news at the TV, but there was something more interesting other than the news. It was a family picture. The picture consisted of Dick, Barbara, James Gordon, and Barbara carrying a mysterious girl who had Barbara's green eyes and Dick Grayson's dark hair.

"Oh my god." Tim said. "Is this..."

"Yup." Dick answered. "That's our daughter, Mary. She's two, and now she's sleeping upstairs. She needs her uncle, you know?"

Tim glanced back at Dick with that response. "You actually took my advice."

"Thanks for that." Dick said. "Really, I thought I couldn't be... normal again, you know? I thought I can't just... stay back and relax. I started the whole Bats thing and we masquerade it a lot. I thought I couldn't escape fighting, but here I am."

"Good for you, man." Tim said. "Not sure if I'm going to get that chance anytime soon."

"Stephanie's working part time on a restaurant, so... maybe she's still busy." Barbara said. "She's home at six, though. Go check her out then."

"Will do." Tim said. "Do you know that Alfred is sick?"

"Yeah, we do." Dick said. "We visit him once in a while. The most exciting part is when I bring Mary there."

"How did he react to it?"

"He was... really happy." Dick said. "It's like when you got your most wanted toy on Christmas. It's insane."

"Wow. I'm really happy for all of you." Tim said. "You all got a normal life. Not sure about me, though."

"Where have you been anyway?" Barbara said.

"You know, I thought that's going to be the first question I answered." Tim said. "I've been in coma. It turns out that Waller saved me."

"Waller? Amanda Waller?" Dick said. "Why?"

"She said that I saved her daughter, which... okay I did."

"Just to show you that even when she's being kind, she's still a bitch." Barbara said. "Seriously, not even a text?"

"She's probably busy, but yeah you're right. She's a bitch." Tim said. "Anyway, I'm going to need a place to stay, if you don't mind."

"Of course we don't." Dick said.

"You're always welcome here." Barbara said. "Well, maybe if you don't mind babysitting Mary."

"Babe, let's not-"

"Don't worry. It's fine." Tim said. "I wanted to see her too."

Dick glanced at Dick for reassurance. Barbara shrugged it off. "Well, suit yourself."

##

STAR Labs in Star City was one of the most technologically advanced research and development companies in the entire world. They have contributed into creating a safe, environmentally friendly reactor that they have submitted to Central City as a gift. Their latest accomplishment was to develop a cure that destroys HIV cells, which was patented and founded in 2022. However, they went on to some failures as well, and there was no one else to point it out worse than Amanda Waller.

He was extremely afraid of picking up that call. It was like being yelled at by a bunch of angry religious fanatics. Dr. Silas Stone was doing something revolutionary for this time, but not when he was being interrupted.

"Evening, Mrs. Waller." Silas said.

 _"I'm waiting for results, Dr. Stone."_ Waller said. _"Is the battle armor ready?"_

"It is impossible for us to develop an armor that is capable to withstand a force from a sample that you sent to us." Silas said. "I have the best peoples in the business: Dr. Ray Palmer from Palmer Tech has contributed heavily on this project, and even he couldn't find out how to harness its potential."

 _"We need that armor right now."_ Waller said. _"As times passes by, the aliens are growing stronger and stronger, and the last thing we want is to stand down."_

"I understand the threat." Silas said. "But I'm not sure if you have made any progress on finding this alien."

 _"We're working on it."_ Waller said. _"I do not want this to be your other failure, Mr. Stone and especially a damaging one like yesterday. As long as you are working on the armor, we might be able to work for the alien. I will give you one more week, but the armor should be ready."_

"I understand." Silas said. "I will do it, but give me-"

Waller closed the phone off. She was not the type of person who would like to wait for not even a second.

Silas came back into his lab examining the armor, or more specifically the cybernetic body that was originally made for his son Victor. Dr. Karen Beecher, his assistant and Victor's girlfriend, was observing the cybernetic body. Right beside her is Dr. Ray Palmer, who was a lot busier than she was.

"Any progress?" Silas said.

"I couldn't find Victor." Karen said.

"How hard is it for you to find a half-man half-robot?!" Silas shouted. "My son is out there. I know it. We should've been able to find him."

"He deleted all kinds of trackers that we put on his cybernetic body." Karen said. "Victor might not be a scientist, but he's very smart, ridiculously smart. If we just know where to find him, we might have a little bit of an idea in how to develop the suit."

"He already knew how to develop the suit." Palmer said. "He just doesn't want to give it to Waller."

"What?" Karen said. "Is that true?"

Silas sighed. "Yes. The armor is complete. I'm confident enough to not need a testing to figure that one out. I don't want Waller to get a hand of this. If this kind of armor is going to fall on her, we don't know the kind of power that she can use."

"Dr. Stone," Karen said. "You've seen the footage of this 'alien' ransacking that entire lab with his bare hands."

"It's just pure fabrication so that I can develop this armor." Silas said. "You know Waller. You know how sinister she might be."

"Waller couldn't be lying by now." Palmer said. "If Waller was lying, I would've known about it, but the meteor that fell into Briston to Gotham last night was not exactly terrestrial materials."

"Aliens are not real." Silas said. "It is just a fabrication so that we can work this one out."

"What if it is?" Karen asked. "If that kind of power gets loose, peoples are going to pay the price."

Silas sighed. "What are you suggesting, then?"

"We make the armors or the weapons necessary." Karen said. "We just need to give it to the right peoples."

"And who might that be?"


	5. Define 'Boyfriend'

C05: Define 'Boyfriend'

After a little bit of stay on Dick Grayson's apartment, Tim Drake marched in to Stephanie's apartment directly. Nervous breakdowns could be expected. Tons of mouths open will be formed, and Stephanie is going to shriek her lungs out in happiness. That, or she's going to slap him in the face and ask him where he had been.

He was glad that the second one was not even an option.

As soon as the doorbell rang, Stephanie opened the door. To Tim's astonishment, she looked about just as beautiful as she was before. Her devastating blue eyes, her long blonde hair, and a smile that only she could make, had turned completely into nothing but shock and horror. Like Barbara, she covered up her mouth that was trying to hold up a gasp, but she couldn't.

Tim didn't waste any more time on the sight. She put both of her hands away from her mouth and straight up kissed her. For them, nothing else mattered for just a few seconds. The sensation that came from their lips touching each other was the one that mattered. After a few moments of enjoying themselves, they went out of their kiss and glanced at each other's eyes, returning a smile that could only happen for once in a lifetime, but something shocking was right behind the back.

A boy, wearing nothing but a dark blue jeans and a straight emo haircut looking scarily familiar was just right behind her. He thought that he could be more astonished other than seeing his girlfriend again, but this one really put him out of the left field. Devastating was an understatement. The fact that he had seen the face of an alien visitor who was banging his girlfriend was nothing but a straight punch in the heart.

"Oh my god."

"What?"

##

Stephanie looked in the back and realized what he had just seen. It was Conner Kent without his shirt off. As soon as she got a sight on him, Tim immediately disappeared. Jealousy and hatred must have filled his heart out the moment he got a sight on him, but Stephanie would not give it up just to see her long lost lover once again. She ran up into the nearest corridor to find Tim, but he wasn't even there. The next one on the opposite direction and he wasn't there as well.

"Fuck!" Stephanie shouted. "Oh my god... oh my god... oh my god... oh my god..."

"What's going on, Stephanie?"

Conner's voice attempting to inquire whatever the hell was going on could only reveal Stephanie's anger. Even he was startled by that sight.

"Get out."

"What?"

"I SAID GET OUT!" Stephanie shouted.

"Stephanie, I'm sorry."

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE NOW!"

Stephanie took his stupid dark t-shirt with the weird S symbol on it and threw it on with him. She pushed him outside and he complied easily. After all of that, Stephanie locked on the doors, not even letting him to get pass in. Clearly, he didn't do nothing wrong and she just couldn't handle the shock, but Conner went on to apologize to her regardless.

"Stephanie..." Conner said. "I'm sorry. Whatever I did to you, I'm so sorry. I'll leave you now."

After that, steps can be heard out of him. He was stepping out of her apartment, which gave her a good time to take her phone and ask for an explanation.

##

Tim went straight into the ARGUS headquarters. Knowing that there are going to be a few guards inside, he didn't even give a single damn. Guards came into him with a warning, but Tim downright punched the guy in the face in a speed that was enough to knock him out.

One guard noticed him punching the man, but Tim took the guard's baton and threw it into his head. The baton bounced back up and Tim ran towards the guard, put his legs on his shoulders, and jumped to get the baton back. At the same time, he also jumped up off of the metal scanners. Three guards were right in front of him. One charged him first with a stun baton, but Tim dodged it easily by ducking. He also dodged the other guy's baton and the two started attacking him simultaneously, but Tim was able to recognize their patterns and slammed one man in the chin with his baton and the other man by grabbing him in the head and kneeing it out.

One man attempted to jump and kick him out in the air, but Tim was fast enough to grab him and to slam his entire body into the metal scanner. Tim knocked him out by swinging the baton into his face downwards in just a matter of half a second.

And just when he could proceed even further, there she is standing among the knocked out body. Tim went on to charge and pinned her down the wall.

"You fucking bitch!"

"Tell me why."

"You know why." Tim said. "You know that this alien has been banging my girlfriend so you're going to make me to accept this mission no matter what."

"That's your fault for coming to me." Waller said. "The best thing that you should've done is to go back home and tell her to stay away from him, and yet here you are."

Defeated, Tim released Waller out of the custody. He just noticed that the rest of the ARGUS men already got their guns over pointed up to him.

"Drop the guns, boys." Waller said. "We have ourselves a volunteer."

##

"Hello?" Stephanie began her call.

 _"Hey uh... Steph."_ Barbara answered. _"What's going on?"_

"Babs, you're not going to believe this." Stephanie said. "Tim Drake is alive. He's alive."

 _"Uh... yeah we know."_

"What?" Stephanie said. "And you didn't even try to tell me?"

 _"What, you expect me to ruin it for you?"_ Barbara said. _"Did he come to you?"_

"He comes in a really bad time." Stephanie said. "I was... I was with this... guy. And... I don't know he got real jealous and he left. I don't know where he is now."

 _"Ouch."_

"Don't just 'ouch' me, Babs! If you know where he is, you should've told me."

 _"Alright."_ Barbara said. _"I don't really have his number, but he left pretty quickly that we forgot to ask. He did tell me that Damian has his number."_

"So Damian has his number?" Stephanie said. "You're not really helping much, you know?"

 _"I know."_

##

"This 'alien' has named himself Kon-El." Waller said. "He caught our attention the moment we see him fall down spectacularly near Central City."

"How do you know that he's an alien?"

"No human is able to survive a fall from the height of the stratosphere." Waller said. "We have calculated the trajectory and the impact analysis suggested that he might have come from the outer space."

"So he's literally a meteor and he falls down into the ground just like that?" Tim said. "How the hell is that even possible? How can someone not notice it?"

"We have asked that question so many times throughout this journey." Waller said. "We know that he's an alien the moment we examine him with our x-ray. His bone structure was significantly different. We tried to inject syringes to him, but it's no use. He's indestructible. So we put him into our strongest cage and we questioned him about everything."

"And he somehow knows your language?"

"Thankfully he does." Waller said. "He reveals that he's from planet Krypton light years away from Earth. When we wanted to inquire even further about it, he decides to not tell us about it and gets out of the cage."

"That's where you got all of those destruction from." 

"There were lots of injuries, but no deaths." Waller said. "If you ask me personally, I think he was trying to protect us from some confidential information."

"What kind of confidential information?"

"The kind that might bring death and destruction upon our world." Waller said. "The kind that he doesn't want to tell us because it might be destructive."

"So you want me to find out what it is?" Tim said. "You want me to find out who he is and what he wants?"

"Yes."

"And you choose me because he's very close to my girlfriend?"

"It's a great advantage."

"And... you only choose me?"

"Don't be foolish." Waller said. "Of course I assigned some other peoples to find it. You just happen to be quite the extra hand. So, what do you think?"

Tim's phone vibrated. He picked up the phone to find an unknown number. Answering it would reveal nobody but Stephanie Brown, so he did.

"Hello?"

 _"Hi, Tim."_ Stephanie began her words. _"It's me, Stephanie."_

"Yeah, I know."

 _"I..."_ Stephanie said. _"I'm so sorry that you got... surprised by that. I mean can you-"_

"Save it." Tim said. "I need to know where did you find your new boyfriend."

 _"I... well..."_ Stephanie began. _"I found him around the streets of Gotham. He's an amnesiac war veteran, so I think the best way to get to him is just to give him comfort."_

"You should stay away from him, Stephanie." Tim said. "He's dangerous."

 _"What makes you think that?"_

"I'm currently in a room with Amanda Waller who briefs me everything about the guy." Tim turned on loudspeakers. "Meet me at Wayne Manor next morning."

 _"What?"_

"Just do it." Tim said, also signaling Waller who was about to protest. "I'll talk about more of it with you."

 _"Okay, whatever you say."_ Stephanie said. _"Tim I..."_

"I know." Tim said. "I love you too."

Tim closed the phone off, leaving Waller to say on her words. "You're going to bring him in?"

"I can't do this alone." Tim said. "If you want my help on capturing this alien, she is the only way to get to him and we should involve Wayne on this, whether you like it or not."

Waller had no choice but to comply to him. He made a good point, and there was no arguing with Red Robin.

##

What Conner needed to do right now is to find the rest of the Kryptonian crews. He did so by getting out of Gotham and jumping from one water into the other. He didn't have to swim. All he needed was to jump as high as possible and the moment he hit the water surface, launch himself into the air.

Later, he landed into an island in god knows where. If his calculations were correct and he did fall off in Central City, then the rest of the crew should fall down exactly here on this island. Either that or they managed to survive underwater. Whatever the case, he should find them right around here. However, he was not alone.

"Wow."

Someone just uttered those words in his left, but he couldn't find the person. The only creature that he could find was what the Earthlings called a parrot, who had the tendency to do talk like humans. The green bird was harmlessly wandering around the beach, and uttered the word once again.

Just as Conner sighed, there was another word, or more accurately another sentence coming out of the parrot's mouth.

"I thought I was the only one."

The green parrot said, but this one with a voice that was a lot more human than it was a parrot. Conner examined the parrot at close, only to get the parrot to jump into him and blinding him out.

"Ow!" Conner grunted. "Hey! Get off!"

Conner threw the parrot out of the way. He was a bit blinded temporarily, but when the parrot was away, it completely disappeared. The parrot probably flied off. Well, that was a bit distracting, but at least it didn't bother him that much.

He made a turn to his left to see nobody in there. He made a turn to another left and nobody was in there. That is until he made a turn to another left where as soon as the creature caught on his sight, every single part of his face stretched out like a rubber band in the hands of a toddler.

He made his steps back away, but the creature was breathing. Every breath coming out of it was louder than the last. His incredibly large green furry physique and his sharp teeth were the ones that truly caught his attention. Those things could get into any part of his body at any given time. Despite him being a superhuman, this was way beyond superhuman, and there was a good chance that he could annihilate him in seconds.

"What... are you?" Conner asked.

It was a sudden change of event. The creature who was once a monster from an unexplored dimension slowly transitioned. The furs shrunk into his skin, and when he was smudged with a lot of green before, now turned into a normal human with a white skin and even a yellow blonde hair. Surprisingly, despite his large physique, he was still able to have his pants on.

"I'm a guy." he muttered as he glanced down his bottom parts that only had his boxers. "And... yeah, it's hard to find more flexible pants."

"You..." Conner said.

"Garfield Logan. Beast Boy. Anything works. Nice to see you here, Superboy."

"Super... boy?"

"Yeah, it's the only thing that got to my head when I see the S on your shirt." Garfield said. "Are you really a superhero?"

"I... no, I'm not." Conner said. "And I'm not 'Superboy'. Back off."

"Dude, you jumped like ten meters up by stepping on water." Garfield said. "You _are_ super."

"I'm not exactly a boy."

"So you're a superm-"

"What do you want?"

"Me?" Garfield said. "I want to know if I'm like the only guy who got powers like you."

"Well, you're not going to get an answer if you stay on this island."

"You're right." Garfield said. "But do you know how long for me to control this?"

"Control?"

"Yeah, control." Garfield said. "You have no idea how hard it is to control this. I couldn't even turn into a normal guy. I stayed green for like a long time."

"So you're staying here to control this power?"

"I can't get out of here until I can."

"And now you can." Conner said. "Okay um... I know this is going to be weird, but... try to punch me."

"What?"

"Punch me in the face."

"What? Why would I do that?"

"Just do it." Conner said. "And don't fake it out. Mean it."

"Okay, dude."

Garfield pulled his arm back. In an instant, he got his best hook possible. The hook was able to harm Conner, causing him to bleed out. However, that also caused quite the harm on Garfield's hands.

"Oww!" Garfield grunted, grabbing his hand. "Wow, you're tough."

"Urggh..." Conner also grunted. "Is that your best?"

"No, not really." Garfield said. "You want me to turn into a werewolf again?"

"No, god no." Conner said. "Are you sure that's not your best?"

"I can make it ten times stronger if you want." Garfield said. "What's the matter?"

"Listen," Conner said. "You're not going to believe me here, but I'm an alien from outer space."

"I believe you, dude." Garfield said.

Conner raised his eyebrows. "Well, that was easy. Anyway, I need you to do something for me."

"Do... what exactly?"

"I'm a Kryptonian." Conner said. "I'm not the only one who dropped on this planet. And unlike the other Kryptonians who come in here, I come here in peace."

"So... you're not evil, but your other peoples are." Garfield said.

"I... well yeah." Conner said. "If they know that they have the power that I have, it's going to be the like Tamaran again."

"Wait, you've invaded a planet before?"

"Yes, and it didn't end well." Conner said. "I don't know how and I don't think I will ever know why, but your planet is in danger and you're going to need to gather up your most powerful humans or it will fall. They're hell bent on destroying the world of everyone and anyone. We have a very bad track record of just leaving everyone in their business. So if you love your world, you'll either going to stay on this island and let it die or do something about it."

"Jesus, dude. Are you threatening me?"

"I'm not threatening you. I'm warning you." Conner said. "Go and find some help."

"Well, go ask the President for it. He'll believe you."

"No, I can't."

"Why?"

"Because they're going to think I'm crazy."

"Why?" Garfield said. "You just jumped off of a water into another. That's some real impressive crap right there."

"If they know that I'm an alien who is going to invade this Earth, then I'm going to be captured somewhere and jailed." Conner said. "If you're going to fight this alien, you're going to need my help."

"I... okay, okay. I get it." Garfield said. "But why would you fight against your own?"

"I'm done with them." Conner said. "They asked me to kill a lot of peoples in this place called Tamaran. I've seen death and destruction and I can't get out of it. This is the place where I can get peace. This is the place where I can get away from it. If they'll come and destroy it, I won't be covert about it."

"Alright, dude. Whatever you say." Garfield said. "Just... I need a guarantee that you're honest with me."

"I asked you to save this world." Conner said. "What more do you need?"

"Fair enough. "Garfield said. "I'll go and find some. Just make sure that you're ready."

Without even a speck of warning, Garfield had wings grown on his back, causing Conner to stumble back just like he did last time. Garfield went fly off into the distance to gather up some form of a superhuman team to take the big alien down. Let's hope that he made it.


	6. Define 'Sorceress'

C06: Define 'Sorceress'

A day at work in STAR Labs weren't going to get Karen's nerves, but the loss of a former boyfriend plus lab rat gone wrong managed to get her in the worst possible ways. There was however one way to completely bring her shock out of existence, and that was to show that same person inside her house without any sorts of warning. As soon as Karen opened up her locked apartment and turned the lights on, Victor was there sitting on the living room.

"Oh my god." Karen began. "V... Vic...?"

Victor Stone came back into her house, surprisingly came back with a face that didn't look so robotic. He stood up from his couch and faced his girlfriend directly. Karen had a lot more balls compared to most of the peoples who had faced him, and she didn't even back away.

"How..."

"Skin grafts." Victor said. "I got a few friends. I got a few peoples who should help me to look normal. For that moment, I have to cover myself like a mummy. As for the hands, well, prosthetics are everywhere now so..."

"We... we would've helped you too, Victor." Karen said. "You know that."

"You would." Victor said. "My dad wouldn't."

"Yes he would."

"No he wouldn't." Victor said. "He never trusted me. He never believed me."

"For god's sake, Victor." Karen said. "I'm not the one who started this whole project of resurrecting you." Your father did. He wouldn't have done that if he didn't care for you."

"If he did, he would've done everything on his power to find me." Victor said. "The robotic project that this originally came from is called I-45, codename 'Cyberion'. Instead of putting some effort on trying to find me, he puts all of his efforts on that stupid armor."

"And that automatically means that he doesn't care for you?" Karen said. "Victor, I know you're not a moron."

"And you don't know my dad."

"I've been with your dad for years!" Karen said. "He cares for you, Victor. Believe me. I have lost count how many times he begged you to come home."

"Did he?" Victor said. "What's stopping him to find me, then?"

"That's a lot more complicating." Karen said. "I know that you're not going to believe it, but he's been under pressure this whole time. ARGUS wanted him to develop some form of a weapon against... aliens."

"Aliens?" Victor said. "Karen, are you even listening to yourself?"

"I'm serious." Karen said. "The alien called himself a Kryptonian. His planet presumably has a higher strength of gravity compared to ours, which makes him incredibly superhuman."

"Can you prove it?"

"I'd love to."

##

Her daily patrols didn't usually come into something this bizarre. Who would've thought that an ancient historical artifact would be the number one target for random mercenaries and thugs to deal with? Mia Queen AKA Speedy had to don her mostly black with some yellow touch outfit to battle up these morons who thought that a place like this would be an amazing one to rob. Unless if someone was incredibly interested in stones.

Speedy managed to classify the threats that are surrounding the museum. There were only about five mercenaries including one woman. Hitting a woman was going to be the last thing that she would ever do, so she put the woman last on her priority list. Sneaking through their backs managed to give her quite the advantage of tonight. However, she had the hairy feeling that the woman knew a lot better than what she looked.

Using a long-range microphone, she was able to pick up the conversation between the mercenaries. However in this case, she didn't even have to, because she could overhear their conversation in the distance.

"This is the place?" one mercenary said.

"Of course." the woman stated. "This is exactly the place where you can get it."

"In an ancient relic museum?" one man complained. "How are you going to find it here?"

"There are some meteorites that fall from Earth that are misclassified as an ancient relic." the woman continued. "I know all of these meteorites and where to find them, and I know exactly their look and color of it."

"So what is this 'Red Stone' turns out to be?"

"This 'Red Stone' is misclassified by some morons at the Central University as the 'ancient' remnants of the Pre-Columbian era." the woman explained with a disturbingly calming monotone. "When in truth, it actually is a meteor from outer space falling down about two years ago."

"How did nobody noticed?"

"Government has a bunch of peoples that can make things disappear."

"That sounds like a conspiracy theory."

"That's why I didn't share it with you." the woman said. "I have a thing with ancient relics and stones. I know exactly what and how they looked and I can easily distinguish them with meteors. Sufficed to say that they got this one wrong, and intentionally so. I don't know why, but let's continue before we come into aliens as our conclusion."

The heist group managed to reach this 'Red Stone' thingy that they were looking for. When tallied, the stone was nothing but a waste. The cost was probably about $399 plus tax, but they were looking out for it regardless.

"There it is." she said. "The meteorite stone at its glory. Not sure why nobody turned this one to dust or sell it down to the flea market."

"How are we going to get it?"

"Just break open the glass." she said. "The security has been disabled. Nobody is going to notice."

"How do you know that it's disabled?"

"Don't speak unless you went to the security systems about five minutes ago."

The way she talked, Speedy believed that she was not a moron and that she intentionally said that so that these mercenaries can be captures. Speedy checked on the security status of the museum, which she connected through wireless configurations. The security systems were active, and that breaking the particular glass is going to trigger an unhealthy alarm. She actually observed her getting inside the system and she didn't even break anything. She just knocked the guards out and left.

However, that wasn't the case. As soon as one of the mercs got their hammers out and broke the glass open, the alarm did not trigger, despite the fact that the security systems were active. There were probably some malfunctions on the speakers or the wiring or the programming. Whatever the case, either she was a great hacker or the security here was an absolute joke. Speedy couldn't even trigger the security systems manually.

"Let's get them, boys." she said. "The money's big enough for all of you here."

"I don't think so, young lady."

One mercenary had his gun pointed at the lady, which was a rather interesting move. Speedy went out of the cover and took her aim in the distance with her tranquilizer injector arrow ready, and witness as the insanity ensued with this man.

"I don't think this is part of the agreement." she said, not a single damn given to the gun pointed at her.

"You were never a part of this, Raven." the merc said, giving away her name. "You just joined in and you think that you could get away with one million dollars after that nifty little trick that you showed to Drakon. You're not going anywhere."

"Is this the part where you're going to kill each other because you're going to get one less share?" Raven said. "I think I've seen that in a movie somewhere, but you're in real life. That's not going to work."

"We'll see about that."

There was a little bit of calm that was on Speedy as she witnessed from the distance that the gun's safety mode was on, which means that whatever kind of trigger that he pulled, it's not going to get any bullets out. However, even with the gun's safety mode on, as soon as he pulled the trigger, the gun quite literally exploded on his hand, causing a major burn and an absolutely degrading cry of pain.

The other mercs pointed the gun to her as well, but she managed to give a good glance at them and warned them about their future fates.

"I'm not going to do that if I were you, gentlemen." Raven said. "I have rigged every single one of your gun including the spares that you put on your shoes. If you're going to kill me, I'm afraid you're going to have to do that the old-fashioned way."

Without even a single change of emotion from her face, the other four men charged at her with knives on their hands. She dodged the first one easily and knocked him out by grabbing him, flipping him over her body and slamming him down the floor.

Two men charged at her with pocket knives. One slashed her by a side swing from the top, which she dodged easily. His next attack was unfortunately his downfall as she blocked his arm swinging towards her. She knocked him out by what literally can be described as a machine gun punch, repeatedly punching him in probably about six or seven punches a second right on his chest and then ending it by a punch to the face, knocking him out.

The other guy with a knife charged at her with a downward swing from the top, but she grabbed it easily. She disarmed the guy and she had the knife to her advantage. She took the knife and slashed the guy in a direction that surprisingly would not harm the actual person. What instead ended up with was the guy standing still, and his pants literally dropped, revealing his embarrassing boxer.

And surprisingly, not even a smile came out of her face out of that amusing scene. Even Speedy had to let off a scoff in the middle of her sneaking session. The guy attempted to grab his pants down, but Raven kicked the back of his foot causing him to kneel and then knocked him out by kicking his head on the side and pinning it down to the wall.

The last man was very hesitant on moving even a single foot towards Raven. As Raven moved forward, he backed away one step at a time before slipping and falling down. He crawled back away from Raven and her terrifying stare and what she did to completely knock him out in business was to literally say the magic word that only kindergartners would fall to it.

"Boo."

The man literally went up off his prone state and started to run away for his life. What a coward.

"You guys are boring me." Raven said. "I'm going to have to take this stone myself."

That's when Speedy entered the game. She shot off her warning arrow right towards the wall near the stones. The warning arrow got Raven's attention, and there was nothing else blocking them both except for a compound bow.

"So you finally showed up." Raven said. "You're not as early as I heard you were."

"I'm not late. I'm just hiding off, watching you around." Speedy said. "Nice trick, by the way. Where did you learn Wing Chun?"

"What do you want?"

"Just back away from the stone." Speedy said. "Or I'm going to trigger the alarm."

Raven scoffed. "Go ahead. I just broke through the glass. No alarms."

"Do you really think that's what I meant?"

Sooner enough, both heard the sound of police sirens approaching in the distance, but Raven was smirking, thinking that she had the upper hand.

"By the time the police come in here, I'll be away with the stone." Raven said. "I suggest you should back off."

"I'll do that." Speedy said. "Only if you can knock me out first."

Speedy shot one arrow towards her, but Raven grabbed it with ease.

"You think you're the only one with tricks?"

"You haven't seen my trick yet."

The arrow was blunt, so it could be designed as anything that Speedy wanted on the fly. The blunt arrow turned into a rather harsh flashbang, causing a massive disorientation to Raven's side. Raven, who got her eyes closed, couldn't focus on right. So Speedy shot her with a tranquilizer arrow to knock her out of existence.

However, the tranquilizer somehow bounced off away around Raven, as if she was being protected by some sort of a force field. Speedy kept shooting more on tranquilizer arrows, but the effects were again the same. They bounced off of her and didn't even have a chance to enter any of her body territory.

"Oh, I see how this goes." Speedy said. "Either that was voodoo magic or you got some stolen tech. That's a shame. I really thought you're going to play this fair."

Raven regained her vision and made her last words. "Sorry, not tonight."

In a stunning display of sorcery, she grabbed the rock using telekinesis, created some sort of a dark portal right below her, and being transported below like the Italian on the game that she played ages ago. For a quick turnaround, Speedy threw some throwing knives at her, but again it was no use as the knives couldn't penetrate her force field.

"Almost got her."

##

"Your dad is put under pressure by ARGUS to develop these armors." Karen said. "Believe it or not, he initially refused. He doesn't want any of his weapons to be used by them, not even against aliens, because he worries that they might use it for the future."

"He does?"

"Turns out that your dad isn't as heartless as you think, is it?" Karen said. "The armor is actually done and he begs to ARGUS for another week for testing, but he doesn't want any of the ARGUS soldiers to use it."

"Then who should use it?"

"The vigilantes could be a good bet."

Out of the blue, Speedy appeared on the side of the kitchen door, leaning on its side and observing the couples giving explanation towards each other.

"So this is the Cyborg?" Speedy asked. "I wonder. What kind of weapons does have in those huge arms?"

"A non-lethal sonic blaster." Karen said. "This isn't really the time, Speedy."

"Oh Karen," Speedy said. "Would you please spend just a little time for the muscle? The last patrol was quite interesting."

"Wait, you two knew each other?" Victor asked.

"Vic, it's me. Mia."

Speedy opened her hood and mask to reveal the short purple-haired Mia Dearden Queen behind the mask. That alone was enough to astonish the relatively huge man.

"So you spend your day getting drunk and being dumb on Twitter and the night beating up bad guys and take down mafias?" Victor asked.

"It's a good cover." Mia said. "What do you think?"

"You're just going to reveal your identity to him?" Karen said.

"No offense, but do you expect someone to listen to him?" Mia said. "Besides, I'm not even sure why he has to be here. He's been lost for like two or three weeks and he just pops up right here without warning. Where have you been anyway?"

"I'm away." Victor said. "I guess in some ways I deserve it."

"Don't be ridiculous." Karen said. "Nobody deserves what happened to you, Victor. Nobody."

"What if I did?" Victor asked. "What if I do deserve all of this?"

"Does it really matter?" Mia asked. "If you ask me, what matters is that you have cybernetic enhancements. You got super strength and sonic blaster and all those good stuff. Now what matters is how you're going to use it. Are you going to use it to do bad or to do good? Choose bad and you're putting yourself on the same level as the sorceress thief."

"Sorceress?" Karen asked.

"Our tonight's thief used voodoo magic to get out." Mia said. "I shot her with a flashbang arrow and was about to tranquilize her, but she used her magic for some form of a force field that bounced off literally all of my tranquilizer shots. After that, she opened up some portal in the bottom floor to get down one level lower. Couldn't get to her."

"I don't know about you but that sounds absurd." Karen said.

"Really?" Mia said with a condescending tone. "You're talking into a half-human half-robot and helping a Robin Hood wannabe on capturing a sorceress supreme and let's not forget making armors for the government to defeat aliens from outer space. Your entire world is absurd. Deal with it."

"Okay, I get your point." Karen said. "So I assume that's all the reason why you visit me?"

"Can you counter-react magic?" Mia asked. "Or more importantly, do you know someone who knows some real, legit magic?"

"You're hunting a sorceress?" Victor asked.

"No, I'm hunting down a psychopathic clown." Mia said. "What do you think? In fact why are you here anyway?"

"I want to warn Karen." Victor said. "I want to warn you to keep my father in check. You're the only one who can do it. I can't trust my father, but I can trust you."

"Like I said, Victor. I'll do my best." Karen said.

"Great." Mia said. "Now you may kiss the bride. Can I borrow your room for a change? Also, if you're coming in for the hunt, I don't have a spare oil for you."


	7. Define 'Fair'

_A/N: Fixed one of the few unfinished paragraphs that actually contains some relevant information. I just missed that one. Sorry!_

##

C07: Define 'Fair'

Being the only person who managed to get the Red Stone, Raven attended the meeting of her particular client who made the request to steal this stone for some unknown reasons. Raven met the said client in a building somewhere underground where nobody could even notice. She was still wearing her hoodie, and this client was very particular on the meeting location.

"Quite an odd place to meet." Raven said. "This isn't suspicious."

"That's not as suspicious as the next time might be."

Raven noticed that the client was not there. Instead, he was replaced by a man on his forties with a small moustache and a dark hair. She sharpened her eyes on this man's presence, wondering if he had any sorts of doubts on this particular subject.

"You're not my client." Raven said.

"But I know your number. I did ask you to come in here."

"I only deal with the one who looked out for the Red Stone."

"He's not here at this moment. You can trust me."

"I doubt it." Raven said. "What's my codename?"

"Raven."

Raven nodded. "Fair enough."

"Sit down."

Raven did exactly that right in front of this man.

"Where are the rest?"

"What rest?"

"The rest of your crew?"

"They slipped and got captured by the authorities the moment I left."

"Unfortunate. I'll be checking the stone, now."

"Of course."

Raven took her bag out and get the stone out of it. The stone was half the size of a human's head, fit enough for her to carry on the bag. The man grabbed the stone out and examined it himself. Throughout the examination, his expression was nothing but satisfaction mixed in with a few nods and astonishment.

"Fascinating. To think that you're able to get this stone right in here."

"If I may ask, why do you need this stone for?"

"That is unfortunately none of your business."

"Okay, but I assume that it's important."

"It is very important, but it's none of your concern."

"Alright, I won't ask." Raven said. "But what I will ask is the money."

"Ah yes of course. The money."

The man put the stone on the table and stood up. He then picked something on his back and pointed it at Raven. She knew that particular thing was a gun, but she wasn't actually sure what type of gun that was. The gun made an energy weapon sorts of charge. The gun was colored green, and it could probably obliterate her in seconds.

"You can walk out with the money, or you can walk out with your life."

"This isn't the deal." Raven said. "I need the money now."

"I'm going to ask once again and your answer would be final. It's your money or your life."

Raven bit her lips and sighed. After the two shared quite the sharp glances together, she made her conclusion.

"I want the money."

"So be it."

The man pulled the trigger and the weapon was shot. However, the weapon, like the pistol that one of the mercs shot at Raven, completely backfired and exploded. The explosion was enough to harm the man. Raven was able to use her magic shield to protect herself away from the blast. The last thing she wanted was that plasma energy hitting any parts of her body. Honestly, she expected the man to have quite the burn, but he didn't for some reason.

"Oops." Raven said. "I think your weapon just backfired. Like I said, I need my money."

"The old way, then."

The man grabbed the table between them and threw it all the way to the right with only one hand, in a force so incredible that even Raven doubted that she could replicate with magic. The table slammed the wall like an angry bull. The wall didn't break, but the table did. Raven was startled by the display of power. She rose from her seat and backed away before more things could pop up. It was clear that she was not dealing with an ordinary person, and it was clear that she would not win this game at all.

"You're not playing fair." Raven asked. "Well, suit yourself. I'm not even playing."

The man charged himself towards her, but Raven easily dodged it out. His reflexes were not as great as his strength however. So instead of giving the man the time of day, Raven went on to grab the stone and opened up a portal that lead outside. She entered the portal and she got out into the outside world. Whatever this man needed for his stone was definitely not going to be worth it, and this red stone is probably going to be used for some bad deals.

##

The Bat cave had quite the technological improvement. There was a large computer on the center and Damian even opted for his own Robin car, which was actually a heavily modified McLaren F1 complete with other random gadgetries that only billionaires could afford, and that is someone like Damian Wayne, the teenage CEO of Wayne Enterprises and a little brat who causes trouble every once in a while, at least that's what he remembered from him.

"So what's this entire meeting for?" Julia asked.

"This meeting is for something interesting." Tim said. "I know that I'm alive and I know that it's surprising, but that's not why I'm here. I'm here to talk about another big problem, and trust me this problem is a lot bigger than you guys think."

"Sure, a bigger problem."

Julia walked in Tim into the cave and noticed the red-headed alien girl wandering around looking for pictures. Instead of following her advice and walk like normal human beings, she decided to wander out by flying slightly above the ground. Tim's face was absolutely priceless.

"Urgh, I told you not to fly on the manor!" Julia said.

"I'm sorry." Kory said. "I was just looking around, but I couldn't see what's on the top so I float for a bit."

"Did she just..." Tim said.

"Yeah, she floats." Julia said.

"What... how?"

"She's an alien."

"What?"

"She's an alien."

Tim glanced back at Kory. After a bit of an observation, he pushed Julia down away from her and out of her sight into a wall that conveniently covered them up out of her. After that, Tim whispered down to her.

"Julia, you need to stay away from her."

"What? Why?" Julia asked. "She's with me for like the past few days."

"Aliens are exactly the problem that I'm having right now."

"What aliens?" Julia asked. "There's a good reason why you shouldn't be ambiguous when you said a 'bigger problem'."

"Okay, fair enough." Tim backed away. "There's an alien race called Kryptonians."

"That's good because she's not one." Julia said. "Wait, what alien race?"

"Kryptonians?"

Julia and Tim were both startled by the presence of Kory. If Tim was startled and got his mouth wide open by the mere presence of a floating human being, Kory was startled by the name alone, and both her and Julia were surprised by that name.

##

"They're an alien race hell bent on invading other planets and conquering it for their own good." Kory said. "What they require to invade this planet are resources and the Citadelians provided them with more than enough to invade the planet. And they're never going to stop."

"They came into your planet without anything?" Tim asked. "No weapons, no spaceships or anything like that?"

"They came with intelligence and extraordinary powers." Kory said. "Powers that you cannot imagine. What they lack in resources they complement it with strength. One of my scientists said that their planet must have a stronger gravitational pull, which enables them to become... incredibly powerful. We were struggling to beat them. We can harm them, but even then it is still difficult."

"Do your race naturally have the ability to fly?" Tim asked.

"In another universe, maybe." Kory said. "We can't fly. We were walking just like all of you, but I was subjected to experiments by the Psions, one of the Kryptonians' allies who also hated our race besides the Citadelians. We can handle the Citadelians well, but they lack tactics and intelligence, which is what the Kryptonians offered."

"How smart are they?" Tim asked.

"Dangerously smart." Kory said. "They took over my capital city in just three weeks. By comparison, our last war with the Citadelians couldn't even make it through the border. Their tactics were extraordinary, and we were not prepared to face with enemies in that degree."

"Jesus." Tim said. "Do you know any of their tactics?"

"I know everything about them." Kory said. "I studied their past and their patterns to observe what they might do in the future. It is a nice way for me to have intelligence on what they might do."

"You're going to need to use it, because they're here, Kory." Tim said. "And they're incredibly powerful."

"How powerful are they?" Julia asked.

"One of them was captured by ARGUS I think it was a few days ago." Tim said. "The Kryptonian escaped captive and wrecked the entire lab station by his bare hands. It's almost like this lab is being hit by an earthquake, but it's just one angry alien escaping out of the place. That's not even the worst part."

"What's the worst part?" Julia asked.

"The alien is... currently banging my girlfriend."

Julia raised her eyebrows and nodded her head in surprise. "My god, really?"

"Do you know his name?" Kory asked.

"His name is Kon-El."

Kory started giggling.

"What's so funny?"

"Your female friend is attracted to Kon-El. I honestly cannot blame her." Kory said. "He is very gorgeous indeed."

"He had invaded your planet and take your peoples out." Tim said. "There's nothing gorgeous about that."

"Correct, but you cannot deny his attractiveness." Kory said.

"So you're saying that you liked him?" Julia asked.

"I used to, until he decimated my father's unit to death." Kory said. "Which in that case, I'm going to incinerate him with my own hands and feed his corpse to the most morbid animals that you have on this planet. I hope that you do have some."

Julia glanced at her in the most puzzling of ways, to consider that an innocent woman like her would do that. Tim was not remotely surprised. He had faced worse threats before.

"That's... nice." Julia said.

"Believe me, I've done a lot worse." Kory said.

Damian Wayne entered the cave as everybody had their meetings together. Unlike last time, he wasn't wearing anything formal. It was just a simple grey hoodie mixed in with his running trousers. He had quite the run around the forests observing what was left of the meteor fall. Briston had quite the fresh air and it was his usual daily routine every Saturday.

"That was refreshing." Damian said. "Oh great. You've met."

"I have to admit, your girlfriend is just as weird as you are." Tim said, causing Julia to giggle and Kory to sharpened her eyes.

"He's not my boyfriend." Kory said.

"What she said." Damian said.

"Yeah, you keep telling that to yourself, both of you." Julia said. "You both some serious kill-hungry issues. And you alien girl better start learning from the son of the demon. He started killing peoples by the age of eight."

"I think we shouldn't be dwindling in the past." Damian said. "Let's talk about alien invasion instead. A much more interesting topic to discuss."

"And one hell of a way to dodge the question." Julia remarked.

"Oh, and by the way Tim," Damian said. "Your girlfriend's here."

##

"So... Conner Kent is an alien?" Stephanie said before giggling briefly and pausing to consider some of the possibilities. "That's... bizarre, but... maybe plausible."

"Maybe plausible?" Tim asked.

"I know how an amnesiac war veteran acts, and he acts just like one." Stephanie said. "And I know when peoples lie. I've been Spoiler/Batgirl for like five years now. He's an amnesiac war veteran who needs help. I don't think he's not going to do anything wrong about it."

"And... you just help this guy like he's a bleached whale or something?" Tim asked. "Come on, Steph. I know you're smarter than that."

"The thing about being smart is that it's almost the same as being safe." Stephanie said. "And if you know me, you know that I'm not really the type of person who play safe."

"Oh, so that's why you two were together?" Julia said. "She liked to drop herself on fire and you like to extinguish it. Opposites attract. What a predictable chemistry."

"What's so odd about Conner?" Damian asked.

"I know it's going to sound weird and I have no doubts that Tim's going to punch him in the face by the time I said it, but when we slept together, he... tastes different."

"Okay, let's not go into details." Tim said.

"Told you he's going to get angry." Stephanie said. "So are we supposed to stop this guy or something? If so, how? I mean you're going to talk about stopping a superhuman and we're not exactly... super."

"We have technologies of 2022." Damian said. "Let's use it for our own advantage."

"So you're going to ask STAR Labs for that?" Stephanie said.

"Well yeah if they're willing to." Damian said. "Which is why I'm going to assign in more than just STAR Labs."

"What about the aerospace project?" Julia said.

"So you're saying that intergalactic faster-than-light travels are more important than alien invasions?" Damian said. "We're going to need to contact STAR Labs."

"Um... Damian," Kory said. "Can I ask you about something in private?"

"Uh... yeah, sure."

##

Kory brought him out of a bat cave to speak in a few words that Damian wouldn't know at this very moment, but it is important for the sake of her own race.

"Is there something wrong, Kory?" Damian asked.

"Julia told me about your aerospace project." Kory said. "If you want, I think I can contribute into it."

"What kind of things that you can contribute to it?"

"I heard that you have problems on developing the FTL engines." Kory said. "You should banish the extremely outdated hydrogen/oxygen thrusters. It consumes too much fuel and is incredibly Our planet have used warp drives to travel into one part of the galaxy into the other. While your spaceship were still using oxygen/hydrogen thrusters, we have developed a more reliable source of energy."

"I... I don't know about that." Damian said. "Wow, you're quite knowledgeable in this."

"I've been trapped inside a spaceship for three months." Kory said. "Thankfully prior to this, I've been learning about spaceships."

"So you think you can contribute to the project?"

"I can provide some knowledge." Kory said. "But I think you know exactly why I wanted it."

"You want to return." Damian said. "Don't worry, Kory. We'll get you back to your home planet. It's just that if this alien problem is serious, we're going to have to delay it first."

"Alright." Kory said. "I understand. If these Kryptonians are going to attack your world, I'm going to do my best to help you, even if I have to go to war once again."

"Right." Damian smiled. "Thanks, Kory."

"I'll do my best." Kory said. "I suggest that you should to."


	8. Define 'Citadels'

C08: Define 'Citadels'

Mia and Karen had to confront the stubborn Detective Lawrence Lance, who got into the case the first hand the moment they saw this particular artifact stolen. Lance got a good look at them as they approached the Star City Museum. However, instead of a mass police surrounding the museum, it was only Detective Lance and his partner.

"Oh, you." Lance said. "Well, we're afraid that our work is done here."

"Detective Lance." Karen said.

"And who is this?" Lance asked.

"Karen Beecher." Karen shook the detective's hands. "I'm the one providing most of the necessary resources for Speedy to operate."

"Oh, so that's where you get your fancy gadgets." Lance said. "Tell me, how about you hand some of them to the police?"

"They're not exactly fond with bows and arrows." Mia said. "Wait, why would you let the peoples come in? There's a crime scene inside."

"Yeah, that's the weird part." Lance said. "Our police officers who got into your call about the stolen artifact managed to come here and confirm about the theft. Some detectives come in to investigate and it's confirmed thievery. Right now, this Red Stone it's completely intact."

"What?" both Karen and Mia shouted.

## 

Mia and Karen approached the display where the Red Stone stood for and found the thing completely intact. Red Stone was still inside the display, just as when it was not stolen by the sorceress supreme. The stone was black with an overall glowing red on it. The history said that it was ancient Indian relic, but not relic could come into this magnificent.

"This is insane." Karen said. "Why would the thief returns the stone back?"

"One: she finds out that the stone doesn't worth a dime." Mia said. "Two, she was a hired thief hell bent on finding this stone to give it into an interested party, but the deal went awry and she couldn't find someone who would sell this stone. So she returned it out."

"The whole place was populated with police officers at midnight until the morning." Karen said. "There's no way she's going to get in and out easily, unless if she's using some magic mumbo jumbo."

"And nobody had to notice." Mia said. "The problem is the security systems are probably still active."

"So this is the stone?"

Victor as he approached the two from the back, using clothing that covered up every single part of his body except for his new head.

"Yeah." Mia said.

"You said that it was stolen." Victor said. "How can it be back here with the glass still intact?"

"A deal gone bad, and the thief had to return it." Mia said. "That's just my theory, though. Hey, you're being put together with cybernetic parts. Don't you think WiFi is one of them?"

"WiFi? I'm way beyond than that, girl." Victor said. "I can get to the security system by literally thinking about it. I just hope that some of the... well I'm in."

The Cyborg didn't even have to move something on his hands. He was able to just telepathically communicate with the technology that were around him.

"You're in?" Mia said.

"Yeah. Sorry, I forgot to tell you I'm a technopath." Victor said. "What do you want to find?"

"Can you project what you see into a screen or something?" Karen asked.

"Check your phones."

Both Mia and Karen picked their smartphones up to get a good look on what Victor had on his eyes. The security OS were in there and the interface was about as complex as a 70s government housing project.

"Any ideas on where to look?" Victor asked.

"How about starting off with yesterday?" Mia said. "There should be some footage of the stone returning back to its form."

"Yeah, I got it." Victor said. "Right here at around 5:22 AM. There was a bit of a hiccup for at least 30 seconds before the camera runs back again. Between the two hiccups, things on the display went to normal including the stone."

"Wow." Karen said. "Coming in here alone from the elevator takes a minute and a half. How can she do all of that in 30 seconds?"

"How about reviewing some of her known abilities?" Mia said. "If she did hack in through the computers, she's quite the excellent hacker. But she didn't hack through because the security systems are perfectly intact. While one camera is going to trigger the alarm when disconnected, it won't trigger anything when it was simply being covered by something dark. She can make things dark."

"Okay," Karen said. "And then what?"

"Force field." Mia said. "She is able to generate a force field that protects her from any kinds of attack. Not only that, but she was also a very competent fighter. She took out all of the mercs that came with her in just a few punches and kicks. Probably Wing Chun."

"So this 'magic' is just her backup plan just in case things go wrong?" Victor asked.

"Yup." Mia said.

"Okay, the glass was broke the moment the police came in." Karen said. "How can she get through the glass without triggering the alarm?"

"Simple. She cuts off the wiring." Mia said. "She was making some random cuts with a pocket knife that pulled a guy's trouser down. Judging from the cuts, it only reached his trousers once. How can she drop his pants by cutting off his entire shirt? One conclusion: Telekinesis and a little bit of a cruel sense of humor."

"So she used telekinesis to find the wiring of the glass and cuts it off just like that?" Victor said.

"Yup." Mia said. "If you're going to cut the wire, you need to break through the walls, which unfortunately is going to cause a lot of noise and it's going to take a lot more than just punching to get through it."

"So x-ray telekinesis?" Karen said. "This girl's good."

"Not necessarily." Mia said. "Finding her is actually a lot easier. She's probably going to leave fingerprints inside the stone, which would require us to take in the stone and examine it in the labs, right?"

"Yeah, but I think nobody's going to give us permission." Karen said. "Unless..."

"I got the fingerprints."

Victor interrupted the two girls.

"How?" Mia asked.

"He has ultraviolet vision." Karen said. "It's for quick fingerprinting examination. Now we're just going to need to find out who it belongs to."

"Actually wait." Victor said. "There are two fingerprints: One belongs to a registered person, and one is completely unknown."

"Unregistered?" Mia said. "I bet that's Raven."

"Actually, this 'Raven' is registered as a girl from Keystone named Rachel Roth." Victor said. "You might want to check if this is the person."

"Yup. This is her." Mia said as she glanced at the ID picture of this Raven person. "No freaking doubt about that."

"So we're just going to the address?" Karen said.

"I got the SCPD cameras roaming around the city to check in her last known location." Victor said. "At 7:25 AM, she can be found in the Jackson Street just south of here heading East into the intersection. And then at 7:27, she turned into the said intersection into the north."

"She's heading to the museum." Mia said. "And it's... 7:40. She's already here, but why is she here?"

"Maybe she wants to find out who has been investigating the thing." Karen said. "Whoever is close to the display, she's going to find it out soon enough."

"You're right." Victor said. "So what are we going to do now?"

"We're going to have a visit on her address." Mia said. "Let's do this by night time. After that, I want all of your powers to be ready."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"I haven't been idle, Karen." Mia said. "I know what you and Dr. Palmer do every night."

"What... exactly is she doing?" Victor asked.

"Oh nothing uncomfortable." Mia said. "Going out using two high-tech shrinking suits to fight crime. I believe that he called you by codename."

"Really?" Karen crossed her arms. "What is my codename, then?"

##

 _"We do have that kind of technology, Mr. Wayne."_ Silas said. _"We're definitely going to send you one. I think it is capable of fighting against these types of aliens."_

"Care to inquire me the details of these materials?" Robin asked.

 _"The materials were made out of a brand new metal that is a thousand times stronger than Titanium and a thousand times more durable."_ Silas said. _"It's called Dilustel, and it's one of the strongest metals on Earth."_

"How much power can it take?"

 _"We have demonstrated it against several C4 explosives with a huge firepower in a contained room."_ Silas said. _"It did not bend a single bit. It would require an atom bomb to explode it into pieces. Therefore, we call it the-"_

"The ATOM suit?" Robin said. "I'm afraid that name was already taken."

 _"Yes, courtesy of Dr. Palmer."_ Silas said. _"I think we should come up into a different name."_

"Let's talk about the names later and talk about functionality." Robin said. "How many can you make these armors?"

 _"At this moment, I can only make one armor. The Dilustel alloys are hard to synthesize and require at least two or three weeks."_ Silas said. _"So if you're going to use this armor, you need to pick the right person."_

"It's functional?"

 _"It's very functional."_

"Okay, I'll take that." Robin said. "Send it to me here in Wayne Enterprises."

 _"That's... we unfortunately have a problem on that sector."_ Silas said. _"This project is under a constant watch of your friend from ARGUS Amanda Waller. You're not going to get it unless if you have her permission."_

"Let me do the talking with Waller." Robin said. "You don't have to worry about her. Just put me in contact if she asks about anything."

 _"Okay, Mr. Wayne."_ Silas said. _"Be careful with her. She's very strict on her operations."_

"I couldn't imagine."

Robin closed off his nightly chat with Dr. Silas Stone, one of the most brilliant minds that he knew of. He switched the contact to Penny-2, Julia's codename, and asked her about the progress of the team.

"Penny-2," Robin said. "Any reports on the other group's progress?"

 _"I bought Stephanie a specialized tranquilizer gun just in case she encounters with the alien again. It's enough to penetrate anything. Let's just hope that it works on him."_ Penny-2 said. _"Tim is still working with Dr. Palmer about other technologies that might help him in this instance other than the big huge armor. I'm still searching for this Conner guy through Stephanie's photograph of him. And guess what, Kory had the chance to use Stephanie's Batgirl outfit."_

"Wait, what?"

 _"Yeah, she looks gorgeous."_ Penny-2 said. _"You should see her up close."_

"Where is she now?"

 _"She's actually heading your way."_ Penny-2 said. _"Said that she wanted to join in the crime-fighting business. And no, she didn't use the suit. She used that battle armor she came in here with."_

"I... well, I don't mind if she can fight." Robin said. "Just tell her to meet up in the Gotham Gargoyles. Try not to fly this time."

 _"Oh, she's flying whether you like it or not."_ Penny-2 said. _"That's like asking a dog not to bark."_

"Okay, fine. She flies." Robin said. "Now do you have any cases?"

 _"I'll warn you off when I get one."_ Penny-2 said. _"Good luck finding anything interesting tonight."_

"Yeah, Gotham's been quiet." Robin said. "Call me when there's trouble."

 _"You got it, Boss."_

Robin closed off the call. In just a short notice, he found the warrior princess himself just right near him, hanging with the Gotham City's most ancient creatures known as the Gargoyles.

"I didn't notice you." Robin said. "I'm impressed."

"I've been through too many espionage missions." Starfire said. "I know how to sneak my way out if I wanted to."

"Well, you're doing a spectacular job." Robin said.

"So this is what you do every night?" Starfire asked. "Watching the city every time some trouble comes in?"

"Yes." Robin said. "That's what I do every single night."

"It's almost like you don't have your own authorities."

"Oh we do have them here." Robin said. "It's just that they were a bit incompetent."

"I honestly couldn't blame you." Starfire said. "In my place, Tamaran had quite the crime for the past couple of years. We had to banish some of the most notorious criminals into the Citadel so that they could give proper judgment to these peoples."

"I thought you said the Citadels were a race?"

"That's the name of the place of the peoples who inhabited it: The Citadelians." Starfire said. "It was outside of the borders of our city. It was called the Citadels because it's nothing but a wasteland where the most savage of peoples consume the flesh of the other peoples that were walking on their empty desert."

"Cannibals?" Robin said. "Christ."

"Outside is a horrifying place filled with horrifying peoples." Starfire said. "The Citadelians were savage beasts than cannot be reasoned or negotiated with. They're evil men praying on the destruction of Tamaran."

"So that's why they're so ill bent on invading you."

"They have a grudge against us." Starfire said. "I don't know why. We have never disrupted them. We have never caused any damage to them. We have tried our best to help them as we could, but they responded with violence."

"Not exactly an appropriate response."

"You have no idea."

Robin sighed. He was just so glad that Starfire was there. At least he had someone to chat to.

"How about the Kryptonians?" Robin asked. "Why were they trying to invade you?"

"I honestly don't know why."

"What, you've been in war about them for like years and you don't know why they're after you?"

"I really don't know. I swear." Starfire said. "If I have to theorize, maybe the Kryptonians are an interested party, or a few men hired by the Citadelians to invade the planet. In return, they will give every piece of technology that we have. Either that, or complete domination of the planet. I don't really know."

"So you're implying that the Citadelians are smarter than that."

"They were savages, not fools." Starfire said. "Their brave hearts and determination are the ones that make them the most dangerous of enemies."

"I see."

 _"Robin, we got a problem."_

"Oh, finally." Robin said.

 _"Wolvman's Jewelries up at Fashion District."_ Penny-2 said. _"The cameras are offline. Sounds like professionals. You better get there."_

"Professionals who couldn't turn the alarm off. Sounds legit." Robin said. " Starfire, are you coming?"

"Of course."

"Then follow me from the back." Robin stood up at the top of the Gargoyle. "Make sure you're able to catch up."

"Robin!"

Starfire shouted as Robin dropped down off of the gargoyle statue head first. Once he got the momentum, Robin opened his glider, growing wings on his back and allowed him to fly in through the wind without any problems. To say that she was astonished by the display was a complete understatement. She had never seen anything like that in the capital, let alone in Palamar.

"Astonishing."

 _"If you want to follow your boyfriend, now's the right time."_

Starfire sighed. "At least I agree on the second part."


	9. Define 'Noble'

C09: Define 'Noble'

Robin and Starfire arrived at the crime scene specifically right at the back door. They entered in through the back and into the section of the jewelry display, but nobody was there.

"Nobody's here." Robin said. "And nothing was stolen."

"These jewelries look expensive." Starfire said. "Why wouldn't anyone steal it?"

"I think someone wants attention."

Robin said it as he noticed someone. He had his night vision on by the time he came in here. Starfire had her eyes glowing green to further enhance her vision in the dark. Robin noticed the man on a dark hoodie watching them from another back room. Presumably, he was able to hide from them at a moment's notice, but he swore that he couldn't have dodged the two from there.

Once Robin noticed the mysterious man, or more accurately the mysterious boy as he was a bit too young to be described as a man, he ran in towards the back and began chasing him. Robin stumbled up into a wall where the only way out was to left or right, but he was in neither of those places.

Robin glanced up to find the man on the top, glancing at him from the bottom. He already had his grappling hook aimed at the top. After that, he shot the said hook into the top and pulled himself up. Just on the way, Starfire noticed him going up and said a few words.

"I'm going to block his way." Starfire said. "You go off and chase him out."

"I got it."

Robin pulled himself up into the rooftop. He climbed up and noticed the hooded man again on the middle of jumping over into another building. The man was proven to be quite the athletic, as he managed to jump over the gap between the two buildings, which was about five steps away. The man glanced back at a disappointed Robin who couldn't even jump that far. He was Robin sure, but he was also human. This man was probably beyond athletic, but he missed one crucial moment.

"Don't get too hard on him."

Robin said, causing the man to get confused for a bit before looking on the back. That's where Starfire punched him in the face, knocking him out of existence.

"Do you need help?" Starfire asked.

"Don't worry." Robin said. "I can get there."

Robin took his line launcher, a gadget that is able to traverse between two different points. He shot the line launcher and used it to get into the next building. After the zipline, Robin landed into the next building and went in closer into the perpetrator to notice he said a few words.

"Oww." he grunted, before giggling out. "Your new partner's pretty."

Starfire got annoyed by that comment and caused her to lift him up into the ground and pushed him into a nearby wall. She pinned him in there to get some comments, with Robin following her in the back, although he still got his head covered with his hoodie.

"What were you doing in there?" Robin asked. "Who are you? Why did you try to steal that jewelry store?"

Starfire opened the hood covering his head to get a good glance on the person who committed the atrocity of triggering an alarm, but that alone managed to get the boy wonder to stop for a moment and be surprised on the sight of another miracle.

"What?" Robin said.

"Who is he?" Starfire asked. "Robin, who is he?"

"I want to tell you something important. You'll going to know me soon enough."

"No, I already know who you are." Robin said. "Garfield Logan."

Garfield raised his eyebrows in astonishment. "Oh wow, dude! You knew my name! Wow! I... I never thought Robin knew my name! I mean I always thought that I was famous but not _that_ famous."

Robin scoffed. "Let him go. He's my friend."

Starfire did exactly that. "Your friend?"

"You were always famous on my life, Gar."

Now it's Garfield's turn to be astonished, as Robin opened his mask to reveal the face of his old best friend who he had joined with in Elementary School and now come back as a teenage superhero. Even back in Elementary School, he was working as Robin, and he didn't even know all of that.

"What... the..."

##

"Holy sh... crap." Julia said. "Garfield Logan? As in... _the_ Garfield Logan?"

"That's right!" Garfield said. "I'm alive, Gotham City! And I'm in the Batcave with my best friend who... turns out to be Robin! Another superhero!"

"Your friend is very... excited." Starfire said.

"Wait, another?" Julia said. "What do you mean another superhero?"

"It turns out that our friend Garfield Logan here didn't come home normal." Damian said. "He jumped off of one building into another with a gap of around 5-6 meters and he climbed up walls as fast as a spider. Also, he can turn his skin green, transform into any sorts of animals that he has touched, and most importantly superhuman strength that is able to directly hurt a Kryptonian."

"So... is he a part of the weird aliens coming up to invade our planets?" Julia asked.

"What? God no! You think I'm an alien?" Garfield said. " I went to elementary school with a billionaire playboy for like two years and you think I'm an alien, Julia?"

"For the record, I'm not a playboy." Damian said. "It was the disease. The Sakutia disease that he contracted when he was still at elementary. The cure got him into evolve into this form, and thank god he could control it at this moment because if he couldn't, his green skin should've been permanent. That's not relevant right now."

"What is relevant?" Julia asked.

"Garfield has managed to find our Kryptonian alien running off into the East of the island where Garfield once stayed."

"What?" Julia said. "Conner Kent? You found Conner Kent?"

"Yeah." Garfield said. "But trust me. He isn't the bad guy here."

"How so?" Damian asked.

"When he came up to me, he asked me to punch him in the face." Garfield said. "I did and I hurt him pretty bad. And then literally moments after that, he asked me to find other superhumans because his other friends are not exactly friendly to humans."

"If you can turn into any animals, why did you stay on that island?" Julia asked. "I mean you can literally fly back here to Gotham City."

"Controlling this power is slightly harder than operating that giant flipping computer you got there." Garfield said. "Besides, my parents... I can't just... leave them there."

"What happened to your parents?" Damian asked.

"They're..." Garfield said. "They drowned. I... I found their bodies and I couldn't save them on time, even if I could swim and breathe."

"My god." Damian said. "I'm sorry. We'll make sure that they get a proper burial."

"They already have." Garfield said.

"You want them to be buried here, Gar." Damian said.

"I can go there just fine." Garfield said. "Anyway, so let's get to the point. He told me to gather up superheroes if we're going to fight the bad aliens."

"The bad aliens?" Damian asked.

"Conner is the good one." Garfield said. "If we want to fight the aliens, we're going to need superheroes."

"Well, we already have Starfire." Julia said. "And then there's Garfield. Do you have a... codename?"

"Do you like Changeling or Beast Boy?" Garfield asked.

"It doesn't make sense." Kory said. "Kon-El is a ruthless soldier who would kill everyone he sees. He wouldn't have asked someone else to save this world."

"And yet he's hanging around with Tim Drake's girlfriend." Damian said. "If he does want to kill everyone on Earth, he would've done it just by now."

"And if he's trying to destroy the world, he would've not asked me to find the best superheroes in the world." Garfield said. "So if you ask me, I would trust him."

"We won't know about it until we see him in person." Damian said. "So we're going to need to wait Stephanie to do the job. In the meantime, if what Gar said is true, then we're going to need to start looking."

"So we're going to gather up superheroes?" Julia said. "Who are we going to ask?"

"I have one." Damian said. "Let's just hope that something weird happens in Star City."

##

Damian organized a call with his Star City vigilante partner Speedy, or more specifically Mia Queen. It's been quite a while since he talked to Mia. And most importantly it's been quite a while since he had seen her troublemaker no-nonsense and straight to the point attitude. Their last collaboration only ended up in quite the chaos, and tons of destruction coming in here and there.

"Mia." Damian called.

 _"Damian Wayne."_ Mia began. _"It's been a while."_

"Yeah, it's been a while since you didn't blow up a tanker, or being a whore on TV." Damian said. "I heard about the museum case. Surprised that you'd be using magic as your excuse for letting a thief go."

 _"It was magic, Damian boy."_ Mia said. _"What else can you call phasing through solid walls, then?"_

"You didn't just say that."

 _"Hey, I wouldn't say it if that's not what I see."_ Mia said. _"I'm sixteen, Damian. I should be in high school, wondering what I'm going to wear tomorrow, not worrying that someone's going to slit my throat for messing up their business."_

"A thief and a killer."

 _"No, just a prankster with a sense of humor."_ Mia said. _"Oh and by the way, the thing that she stole was a stone of some sort, and it's back at the museum."_

"What?" Damian said. "The stone is back at the museum?"

 _"Yeah. It's just back in the morning."_ Mia said. _"I'm very sure you just took a few minutes to hear on the police reports at the night yesterday and just call it at that. Well guess what, they're outdated."_

"Okay." Damian said. "But why would the thief return it back?"

 _"Good."_ Mia said. _"You're finally asking the right question. The kind that I really want to find out."_

"Any fingerprints?"

 _"Surprisingly, a stunning display of Wing Chun and magic completely makes her sloppy."_ Mia said. _"She left some fingerprints. Two fingerprints, in fact."_

"Two?"

 _"Yup."_ Mia said. _"One is our thief, and one is unknown, presumably the dealer."_

"Interesting." Damian said. "Do you need any help on that?"

 _"Uh... nope. I got this."_ Mia said. _"I got two high-tech guys right on my back. I don't think I'm going to need the detective to figure this out."_

"Actually, I'm going to need you in this case." Damian said.

 _"Ooh... of all people who wanted my help."_ Mia said. _"So what's the case this time? Murder? Serial Killers? Giant Crocodiles? Earthquakes? Arkham patients escaped again?"_

"Let's just say it's something more bizarre."

##

The last thing she wanted was the sight of patients around the hospital nodding their heads down acknowledging the situation that the doctor gave to them, only to burst into tears the moment he had done their explanations, as if there was no hope left. Seeing them made her skin crawl, because it could happen to her anytime. How the doctors couldn't afford in good news seemed to be the most massive thing that had been bugging her all this time.

She couldn't help it. She had the power to help people. All she wanted was to use them. She had the chance to use it for something bad, and it backfired immediately. It was almost like her powers were not destined to do bad. It was meant to do something good. After all, it was refreshing to see the change of face of someone who just received news about her mother's worsening cancer into a fresh and happy face.

Rachel's visits were not only for the patients and their crying families. Her visit was also for her own. Unfortunately for this one, it was a healing that cannot be healed by magic, as she can't exhaust herself to constantly move her dying heart. All she needed was a heart transplant. She could go off in any seconds, and her heart could be stopping at literally any moment.

"Mother." Rachel began.

"Rachel." Arella said. "I'm so glad to see you here."

"Me too." Rachel smiled "How are the doctors treating you?"

"They give me the usual support." Arella said. "All of the appropriate medicines and the care. They give everything they can. How is your work on the church?"

"It's a pretty tough business." Rachel said. "Not a lot of money coming out of helping peoples believing in their makers, but it's a noble cause."

"Yes it is." Arella said. "I know it's a terrible way to gain money, but it is a noble one. I don't want to live knowing that my daughter is a thief."

"I..." Rachel scoffed. "Of course I'm not a thief, mom."

"Do not lie to me, Rachel dear." Arella said. "The mysterious thief who stole the ancient artifact and then returned it back just a few hours after? What has happened to you? Have you doubted your intentions?"

"Mom, I'm not going to let you die." Rachel said. "If you die, then I'm not going to have peoples to guide me. I don't care where the money comes from. You need to stay alive."

"You have so many peoples that can guide you, Rachel. You just haven't meet them yet."

"Yes, because more peoples like John Constantine is exactly who I need."

"John might not have been a man with the best attitude, but he's a good man."

"No you just say that because you liked that sort of guy." Rachel said. "For the record, your last encounter with bad boys didn't go exactly as planned."

"You are right." Arella said. "Have you ever tried magic shows?"

Rachel groaned. "I'm not the entertainer type. Besides, if I get famous, peoples are going to suspect me."

"Then what can you do?" Arella said. "You have all the powers in the world to do good, and I believe that you have. All those visits that you do every night to every patient that you can help, I cannot be more proud."

"You... knew?"

"I know all of your bad alongside your good." Arella said. "Our connection is a lot bigger than you thought."

"I'm really hoping that you're not using it when I'm in the bathroom."

Arella giggled. "I'm going to leave your private matters as it is Rae. What you do outside, what you do to other peoples and what you do against them, I will always know. And of course, I know about what you do in the museum."

"Mom, I... I don't really know. I'm sorry, mom" Rachel said. "If it makes you better, I'm going to admit it. Yes, I did steal it, but I returned it back. The deal wasn't worth it."

"Wasn't worth it?"

"The dealer bailed on me." Rachel said. "Just goes to show you that peoples are not going to fill up their promises."

"You're just not dealing with the right peoples." Arella said. "You'll find someone that you can count on to, maybe in the most unexpected of ways you could ever imagine."

"I'm eager to be surprised at this moment." Rachel said. "Seriously mom, I'm sorry about stealing. I... I wish I could do more... for you."

"I understand why you did it." Arella said. "That doesn't make it right."

"I know." Rachel said. "I learned it the bad way. It won't happen again. I promise."

"That's my girl."

"But that means we're still going to have problem about the money." Rachel said. "$750k dollars are not easy to find."

"I would rather die knowing my daughter was doing something noble than to live knowing my daughter is a thief."

"I..." Rachel bit her lips, sighing. "You're right."

##

 ** _A/N: If you have been following this entire series up to this point, thank you so much. I would like to thank anyone who would take their time to read my story. All the reviews, favorites, and follows are extremely appreciated._**

 ** _A little bit of announcement on the progression of this story. To be truthful, I have actually finished 20+ chapters and all I needed was to upload a new one every single Saturday (or Sunday if I somehow missed it). I'm so glad to announce that this story is going to finish in around 26 chapters! So if you're looking forward for a conclusion of this story, follow, favorite, or review. Thanks! :)_**


	10. Define 'Fascists'

C10: Define 'Fascists'

Conner had never actually planned to take over the world. This wasn't what he wanted. What he wanted was just nothing but good old peace. However, in this sort of world that he was living, there was nothing but killing peoples and beating the living hell out of them. It was so rare for him to find where he was supposed to be. He was supposed to take a rest, get some break out of all of this. It seemed like everything was looking for him. The war is coming back, and innocent peoples that he had to interact with before had to suffer through his burden.

The Kryptonians were actually residing into the island where he met that green werewolf guy Garfield Logan. He was hoping that he could keep up into his promises. Another thing that he wished was that he could be able to make sure that there was someone who could back him up. The upcoming war would require more things than just heroes. It would require an army, and tons of peoples dying to actually get a hold of it.

There was a lot more to it than just operating beyond the valley. There was also a little bit of looking for signals, any signals that could mark in the Kryptonian relics. He was able to transform the smartphone, one of Earth's most distinguishable technologies, into an alien scanner, picking up every trace of alien that he could find around. And he did find it, but it was a desert so vast and large it might as well be an empty space. Not sure where to begin at that particular moment, but there was something to do in there, to make sure that the knowledge he had gathered throughout was shared with other humans like him.

Conner found the exact cave where the Kryptonians hid themselves. The so-called Sahara Desert as his GPS pointed out was a lot further from the city that he landed on, which is Central City. That place was not exactly as utopian as Tamarus, but that's exactly what he wanted. He thought that with the Princess - and being in love with her - will take him just one step there.

Instead he got captured by some freaking government agents and ended up in Gotham City, the worst city to ever live in who had its wonders but still the worst. The only best thing to come out of it was the girl by the name of Stephanie Brown, a beautiful, tough, and risk-taking girl that was a bit crazy on the head at some points but an amazing person nonetheless. He wondered why humans would be interested in an alien that looked like humans. Maybe it was the Kryptonian hormones.

"Conner!"

Conner looked right at his six and he noticed his father General Zod standing among the desert wearing gears that someone would wear on the desert. Zod dropped in, sliding through the mountain of sand, and finally ended up right in front of him. The smile that came out of the old General's face was a rarity in these times, and Conner hugged him back.

"I am sorry I've been away, my son." Zod said. "I didn't look after you."

"It's fine, father." Conner said. "I was away as well. I'm sorry. Wait, what happened to your hand?"

"The blaster that I held malfunctioned." Zod said. "I don't know how my enemy is able to predict that correctly."

"Your... enemy?"

"Let's just get into the base first and we'll talk about that later."

##

There was a hidden cave in the South that was once used by Turbain terrorists seeking for peace and freedom in this despicable place. Not sure why General Zod wanted to hide inside this cave away from the city, but Conner was sure that he was constructing some form of plans to take this world over.

"The ship crashed just right here in this nation called Turbain." Zod said. "The nation is in the brink of a civil war. A fascist dictator named Tariq Ziauddin has taken over control over the nation thanks to a military coup. This all started two years ago, and when I say two I mean two Earth years which equals to one Tamaran year. Earth's rotation was a lot faster than we anticipated."

"It takes some time to get used to."

"Of course it is." Zod said. "Where were you?"

"I fell down further west. I landed in a city called Central City." Conner said. "The city is a part of a nation called America, and according to the locals, it is no doubt the strongest country in this entire world."

"America. Interesting." Zod said. "Did they do anything... compromising to you?"

"No, they don't." Conner said. "In fact, they accepted me greatly there, father. I... I wanted to stay there, take a break."

"Have they brainwashed you again?' Zod stopped his walk and turned to him. "The Tamarans did so and you escaped. Now the Earthlings did the same thing?"

"No! No they don't!" Conner said. "Believe me, father. I... I don't want to go back to Tamaran. My entire life has been war and murder and I don't want that to happen. You said that our planet has been destroyed. And now that we're in a planet where peoples are going to accept us, we should better be taking advantage of it and stay with them."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes." Conner said. "Why?"

"This planet is not perfect."

"Does it have to be that way?" Conner asked. "I mean for the record our world isn't perfect either."

"Yes, but it is better."

"I don't want it to be better." Conner said. "I'm fine for what it is. I'm sorry, but don't want another war. I want to... take a break."

Zod sharpened his eyes. Perhaps Conner should've not confronted him with these issues and instead listened to him, but he was glad that his father redirected the topic into something else.

"I went into one of these cities in America simply called Star, a boring name if you ask me." Zod said. "I once found traces of Red Stone landed in this area and it all pointed to Star City."

"The Red Stone?" Conner said. "It's here?"

"It's the key to get out of this planet." Zod said. "It's the one missing material that I can use to repower our spaceship and find out where the Princess really is."

"Where is it now?"

"It's in the hand of a powerful human." Zod said. "Her abilities are... interesting. We're going to take a hunt to her later. For now, we can't do that."

"Why not?"

"We just happen to land over a nation in the brink of a civil war. I'm going to help these peoples." Zod said. "And to be honest, you're right. We all need a break out of all of these. That's why I'm about to give it to you. But first, here we are."

After entering a relatively long cave, General Zod introduced Conner into the army that he was building, and he did not expect the scale to be this big. The cave interior was too big to even contain a space ship, even though the exterior looked like it could only contain a portion of them. There were hundreds of peoples scattered around the cave working out in various feats like distributing weapons and the most noticeable, building that spaceship.

Zod's House Insignia was carved in a very large flag hanging on the edge of the wall being lit with a couple of bright lights. Just to show you that he had meant business when he did all of this. If these workers counted as his army, he got quite the backing. Not sure how many troops that he recruited for this, or more accurately brainwashed to accept into his regime.

"How many peoples are in here?" Conner asked.

"Thousands, many of whom are the true peoples of Turbain." Zod said. "These peoples demand democracy in a nation where the democratically selected leader was overthrown and replaced with a brutal dictator, and many political opponents were tortured and brutally executed. The effect of the regime caught my interest, and I found the rebels immediately soon after, who saved me from the government's army."

"They saved you?"

"Which is why I offered them my assistance." Zod said. "I showed them what I can do, and my capabilities that can stand even the deadliest of their weapons. They were fascinated by it, and they appointed me as their leader. My instincts and my determination are definitely what they need to win this war."

"And what did you do with their previous leader?"

"Nothing. I let him stay. In fact, I needed him to lead this country by the time we finished this silly war." Zod said. "He's the last democratically-elected President of the country, who lead the civil war right into the capital. Their efforts had been successful, but their recent failures could only mark their defeat. I came in on the right time to save them."

"Do you think that your presence here will get them to have the upper hand?"

"Yes." Zod said. "I'm planning to make myself and some of the remaining Kryptoninans prisoners. That's the only way to get ourselves inside the border. By the time the government realize that we're beyond ordinary humans, we're going to take over the control and open the border for the rebels to get in."

"The rebels can't get in through inside the border themselves?"

"Unfortunately the rebel's weaponry are only enough to break in through one of the borders and not to decimate the military inside." Zod said. "Besides, we can use the gate to prevent any of the remaining military to come in. The rebels said that the military is going to be under their control if they kill this fascist leader."

"A military coup."

"It doesn't take long for them to finally get a good taste on their medicine." Zod said.

"You said that you're going to make other Kryptonians to be prisoners." Conner said. "Does that include me?"

"If you're up to it." Zod said. "We're planning to start the mission in a few hours. Are you ready?"

##

Conner Kent and General Zod, or as his human name Drakon Ikram, went in with other Kryptonians. The Kryptonians who survived the crash land here was Ursa, Zod's second in-command, and two others named Krol and Jax, who was the remaining minions that Zod has ever since Tamaran. For the Kryptonians, they were the only peoples in, and it's fitting to make a guerilla entry in.

The capital city itself was boarded with the most technologically advanced border system that could only be broken by the government's own weaponries, something that the rebels were lacking at this very moment. The border was large enough to cover up that small capital, and most importantly there was no way to get in at least for the rebels, but the Kryptonians had enough power to blow it up. The best way to sneak in through the walls or to at least gain attention from the guards.

"So where have you been?" Ursa asked. "I do not expect the son of Krypton to be this late."

"Sorry I missed the party." Conner said. "Whatever you guys have in there, it sounds quite fun."

Ursa giggled. "Your father would be disappointed in you."

"Well, it's much better than finding me dead on a ditch."

Zod scoffed. "We're in a guerilla mission, Ursa. You keep your mouth shut."

"How are we going to open the gates?" Conner asked.

"There is a control panel room in the northeast corner of Ziauddin's mansion." Zod said. "Once we break in, it won't be a problem for us."

 _"Halt!"_

A government soldier, speaking in Arabic, announced the discovery of the four peoples attempting to get through the capital. He had his weapon pointed up front and a hand ready right beside the radio.

 _"State your intentions!"_ the soldier continued. _"HQ, we have enemies here!"_

"Put your hands up." Zod said. _"We surrender."_

##

The four peoples were mistakenly brought inside the Capital by the soldiers. Of course, Tariq Ziauddin, the fascist leader, were interested in why these peoples wanted to desperately get inside this border. Honestly, the one thing that Conner was remotely surprised about was that his father was able to speak fluently Arabic, a language that perhaps took some time to learn.

Simply put, the four Kryptonians were brought with their hands cuffed. Fortunately, the cuff was iron, which was a hell of a lot easier to get out of. Not that any other human cuffs are harder. It's that he preferred the iron. A lot less annoying than what ARGUS had to put with the plastic one. The leader Ziauddin was right in front of them with a smile, a rather ridiculous beard, and a cloth worn above his head for some reason.

"Welcome to the capital city of Turbain, Fascana."Ziauddin began, in English, with a thick accent. "I have begun to notice that you have tried to break in through the capital. And the most interesting part is I find four Americans trying to break in through the border. Just in case you haven't noticed, the front door is open to foreigners."

"Let us go." Zod asked.

"Do you think I would let you all easily?" Ziauddin said. "We went through the procedures of your typical prisoner assignment procedure. We capture your faces, identify your names, and we found something suspicious."

"What is?" Zod asked.

"Your face. Your names. They were not registered in any forms." Ziauddin said. "I find that incredibly unusual, considering that you were both Americans taking a holiday in Turbain. Of all the places you can go to, you choose this one."

"We're not in here for holidays." Zod said.

"Oh?" Ziauddin raised his eyebrows. "Then why are you here for?"

"We are here to take you out of the power." Zod said.

Ziauddin's smile slowly turned into a laughter, as they embraced the mere stupidity and the failure of the peoples who attempted to take him over.

"So you're going to kill me?" Ziauddin asked. "A spectacular job I have to say. Now that you're here with your hands cuffed behind your back and now bowing to me, how are you going to kill me?"

"Cuffed?"

Zod, who was crouching down and bowing towards the evil dictator, stood up from that ridiculous position and glanced at the dictator with eyes that can break through any forms of steel, maybe quite literally if the laser eyes can still be activated on this world. However, he stood up from his kneeling form, and easily let the cuffs off of him as the metal broke into pieces. The soldiers surrounding the area got their assault rifles ready by that point, aiming towards General Zod.

"You should probably watch your words."

Ziauddin backpedaled before hitting his back into a wall. That's where he put his kill order by glancing towards one of his men and just order that one man only to put a kill order, clearly underestimating what Zod is capable of doing.

 _"Kill him! Kill him!"_

The soldier shot his assault rifle, an AKM assault rifle typically used by rebels and cheap dictators for their regime. The ammo shot in the frequency of about four bullets per second is 7.62, one of the strongest projectiles for an assault rifle according to the humans. Unfortunately, even after a cheap burst shot into the head (and accurately still), the bullet cannot penetrate Zod's head. Instead, it bounced off. The remaining pellets were crushed and fell down easily as that.

It didn't take long for Zod to charge towards the man who shoot him. He didn't charge towards him with a quick motion either. He just walked. The man kept shooting his poor weapon. All thirty rounds inside that weapon was loaded and wasted into the body of the General, but it didn't work. As soon as Zod got close to him, he grabbed the soldier's weapon and pulled it away from him. The force of him pulling the gun caused the soldier to follow his momentum and got pulled up front and fell down the floor. Zod finished him off by kicking him, causing him to fly off into a nearby wall and hitting it hard.

The rest of the soldiers was about to shoot their weapons towards Zod, but Conner was quick enough to release his cuffs and shoved them away. Two soldiers fell down crushing one another, but one was out of the reach. He turned on towards Conner and aimed his gun, but Conner was already in front of him and all he needed to do was to grab it and break it off into pieces. Conner did so. He finished that man off by slamming him with the other two men that was in the ground.

Ziauddin pulled his revolver and shot it towards Zod. The revolver was proven to be ineffective, as even the 357 caliber magnum round couldn't get to him. Zod easily caught up to him and pinned him into a wall, announcing his victory with ease.

"I win."


	11. Define 'Coup'

C11: Define 'Coup'

 _A/N: Just to answer a review that I had last night because it was a guest review and I can't reply it personally._

 _Miss geek:_

 _Yes you read that right. If you read back to chapter 7, notice how she said "He is very gorgeous indeed." and "You cannot deny his attractiveness." That's not a subtle implication. That's a sledgehammer to the face. I update it weekly so be patient. Thanks for the review! :)_

 _Oh and by the way, this one is early because I have a trip at Friday and I don't have access to my laptop and internet by then. After this, I promise that we go into a regular schedule. It's going really well so far, and I hope that you enjoy it!_

##

The battle did not last long. Soon enough, the rebels managed to get inside the capital and take over it in less than fifty minutes. For the record, one of the fastest military coups that General Zod has ever committed. Not that he had ever committed any military coups. This one was relatively special for the eyes to see. The military soldiers were pushed out of the building. The remaining rebels celebrated their victory in nearby taverns. And the citizens, despite their initial resistance on seeing the rebels breaking through the border, were happy that the evil regime had finally been taken down.

Chants of victory can be heard by the rebels and the peoples who finally got their rights for this place. Despite having the chance to see a glimpse of what would happen if the Citadelians got their victory, Conner still felt bitter. Maybe because it wasn't the war that he won last time. Maybe because he didn't want the Citadelians to win either. If there was one thing that he was glad upon, he's just glad that his father didn't want to take down any of his unwanted oppositions, and focused on the Red Stone and finding the Princess.

"I wish that I can see this."

Conner noticed his father walking right beside him, glancing over the rebels chanting their victories in the balcony. Unlike the last desert gear that he has to wear for the sake of surviving the desert, now that he's in the city, he's more open on wearing the Zod Emblem shirt.

"You already have." Conner replied.

"In Tamaran, I mean." Zod said. "Our defeat in there was... unprecedented. The enemies knew our plans and made a trap. We thought that we could easily use her as a bargain. Instead, they used her as a bait, and we get through it. If only that stupid bastard Jaan could die before everything took place."

"It's not your fault, father."

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted him!" Zod said. "The Tamarans might not be powerful, but they're incredibly persuasive. They have a way to control our minds and indoctrinate one of our own into their beliefs."

"And it didn't happen to anyone else." Conner said. "For the record, I'm still here. Ursa is still here. We both were indoctrinated, but we both escaped."

"Does it happen to you though, Kon?" Zod asked. "Your minds... questioning every move that I have... it seems like you're doubting me."

"Is there any reason not to?" Conner asked. "For the record, my life has been war. It's always fighting peoples. I'm tired, father. In fact, I have... nightmares. Things that I've seen in Tamaran and Citadel. It just cannot be unseen."

Zod sighed. Perhaps Conner was able to put him into conscience, but perhaps there was an even bigger story to be told.

"Do you know why your last name is El?"

Conner sharpened his eyes. "No."

"Back in Krypton, my best friend was a man named Jor-El." Zod said. "He was a scientist working on the Krypton's Council. He's not only a good doctor, but a good friend. Stubborn, but reliable. We both worked out into so many difficulties, one that includes the eventual destruction of our planet."

"I... always wanted to know." Conner said. "What happened?"

"One day, Jor-El predicted that Krypton is going to blow up." Zod said. "I didn't believe him sure, but after his fellow assistant Non showed me everything, I believed in him. He was a great friend as well. All of us were."

Zod had his hands on the balcony and his head nodded down. Not sure what's going on in his head, but it has to be deep.

"I was a soldier working for the Kryptonian Councils." Zod said. "I thought the Councils are going to believe about the destruction, but they didn't. They said that it's going to cause panic. The Councils killed Jor-El's assistant Non and accused me of being the murderer. They then pointed him out to be the soldier on the manhunt of looking for me."

"Where were you?"

"I went out to Non's family, his wife and his infant child." Zod said. "I went out right there to convince them that I didn't kill Non, but they didn't believe me. Soon enough, Jor-El arrived at his vicinity and ordered a kill strike to me, but I managed to convince him that I didn't do it. Jor-El believed me, but the soldiers under his command betrayed us both and attempted to kill us. All of that was a trap, a very elaborate plan to take out everyone who knew about the existence of Kryton's doomsday."

"How did you escape?"

"Jor-El died trying to protect me." Zod said. "Non's wife also died, but his infant baby is still alive. I brought him into one of the spaceships, the spaceship that you knew as the Red Knight, and he's born under the name Kon-El."

"So I'm..." Conner said. "I'm not your son."

"Biologically, yes." Zod said. "I forgot to ask the name, so I give it my own. Kon is the short for the name of the planet that you were born in: Krypton. El is the last name of my best friend who died protecting you, and also me."

"So... all this time... I'm not really your son?"

"No." Zod went on to grab his shoulders. "But you were like a son to me. I did everything that I could to raise you, to make you to be what you are right now. I'm sorry if I didn't tell you soon, but if you want a rest, this is your chance. You deserve a normal life, a life away from Tamaran, but we're in a mission."

Conner sighed the moment those last words were uttered.

"The princess is still out there." Zod said. "Don't you want to find her?"

"No." Conner said. "I said I wanted to take a break. You just couldn't forget Tamaran, could you? You just couldn't let go that you were defeated."

"I didn't lose that battle, Kon!" Zod said. "We're going to fix Red Knight. Find the Red Stone and bring it back to me. By the time we do, we're going to fly off and find the princess."

"So you can win the war in Tamaran?" Conner said. "Fine, but you can come back and pick me up here when you do win."

"What?"

"If I stay with you, I can only be in war." Conner said. "I've had enough father, and especially not after this one."

"General Zod."

Ursa came in interrupting their conversation. She brought in a tablet, typical of human inventions, and gave some relevant information that she managed to get.

"There has been reports of a strange space ship floating in space orbiting around Earth." Ursa said. "You might be surprised."

Once Ursa showed the said space ship floating right near Earth, both had to open their eyes in bewilderment. The spaceship was exactly the one and only thing that they were looking for all this time. The Princess of Tamaran is here, and that spaceship cannot deny the proofs.

"My lord." Zod said.

"That's a Tamaran Spaceship." Conner said. "Do you think..."

"She's there." Zod said. "That confirms it. She's definitely there."

"I don't think so, General." Ursa said. "It seemed that the powers malfunctioned. She wouldn't have stayed if the ship was in that condition."

"Then she must have evacuated the ship." Zod said. "That probably means that she had crash-landed here on Earth. So how are we going to find her?"

"I think I know where she is." Conner said. "I've heard news of a meteor falling down in Gotham City. It happened just a few days ago. I think that she's there."

"Good." Zod said. "Go and find her, Kon. Once you find her, bring her back to me here."

"She's going to be dangerous."

"That's why I send you." Zod said. "You go and find her and bring her back here."

"How about the Red Stone?" Ursa asked. "We're going to need it to power the spaceship up."

"The Red Stone is in the possession of a powerful individual." Zod said. "I would request you to come over to Star City to find it, but I ask you to do not underestimate this person. She might not have been as powerful as all of us, but she is a talented escapist."

"I would do my best." Ursa said.

"Father, I'm going to find her now, but I want to promise you one thing." Conner asked. "Once I find her and Ursa find the Red Stone, power up the spaceship and leave me here."

"What?"

"I want to stay here." Conner said. "I don't want to get involved in another war with the Tamaraneans, nor do I want to go back there."

"Kon, the war would be over sooner if you help me." Zod said. "I'll give you the break that you wanted. In fact, we all wanted that. But we can't do that right now. We need to finish what we started in Tamaran."

"Should we?" Conner asked. "We're in a planet far away from Tamaran. If you would take a break, you wouldn't have joined this civil war and you would leave them to what they are. I know exactly how this is going to work, father. You were hungry for a war and you won't stop. I'm just afraid that you'll going to do the same thing to Earth."

"I'm not going to do it to this planet." Zod said. "For the record this planet has not attempted offense to me. I don't seek war for no reason. When someone attacked me, I'm going to attack back. It's about as simple as that my son, and you need to learn that."

"And attacking someone back requires you to destroy five major cities including the capital." Conner said. "The only thing I see from you is you're going to make the problems bigger, and I don't want that. I'll find her for you, but if you really want to be my father, do your son a favor: Stop this. Stop all of this. That's all I want. How hard is it for you to do?"

Zod raised his head. "And yet you helped me on this civil war."

"I helped you this time." Conner said. "After I get the princess, unless you stop all of this, I'm leaving you."

To be honest, that's one of the biggest threats that he had ever made towards his father. Conner knew his father and his expressions. His father was always a strong and formidable person, but there was a vulnerable side in him when it involved the peoples who are close to him. No doubt, his second in-command Ursa was one of them.

"Ursa." Zod said. "Order one of my men to watch on Conner. Follow him where he goes. Find out where he's been up to. And find the Red Stone."

##

Garfield Logan had never been in the private jet of Wayne Enterprises. Ever since Damian took over Wayne Enterprises when he's about 10 years old, he always used the private jet for whatever kind of things that he wanted and whatever places that he wanted. No doubt that Damian should have his own private island and used it for a lot of purposes.

"I've never been to your private jet before." Garfield said. "I'm actually quite honored. It's pretty comfortable."

"My father had been using this during his childhood." Damian said. "He didn't have the chance to use it again on his adulthood though."

"He... died when you were born, right?"

"He died protecting me." Damian said. "I was with a group called the League of Assassins where they trained me into murderers. They didn't exactly train me into Robin, but if Dick wasn't there, I wouldn't be Robin."

"That's... pretty cool." Garfield said. "I mean not cool in a sense that the story is cool. It's tragic, but it explains a lot about you."

Damian scoffed. "You thought that I'm just a rich kid living in a mansion for free?"

"Nah. I thought you were adopted." Garfield said. "Which would've been a more tragic story."

"Oh I'm weeping now. Believe me." Damian said.

"So what other 'private' things do you have?" Garfield said. "Wait don't tell me. You have a private island?"

"Technically a land, but I guess you can call it an island." Damian said. "I have one in Rhode Island ironically. It's the southern island region. It's been a while since I go there. Maybe I should use it for something."

"Rhode Island?"

"Yeah." Damian said. "I was planning to use it to build a monument of some sort, but I don't know. Tons of things happen. Lots of projects to do, and not a lot of time to think about it."

"And we're going to Star City to meet Speedy?"

"Well, she's not really the point of the whole journey, isn't she?" Damian said. "We're here to hunt aliens, a very powerful alien that you can punch in the face and not get hurt."

"Okay seriously, punching him hurts." Garfield said. "I got all of these powers and everything, but it hurts too you know?"

"There's something a little... unsatisfying about it."

"What?"

"About you, actually." Damian said. "I... kind of felt cheated out. I find you out in the open like that and-"

"Hang on a second dude." Garfield said. "You didn't find me. I find you there. I triggered that alarm deliberately and then you came."

"But you didn't know I was Robin, did you?"

"I didn't mean you. I mean Robin." Garfield said. "I was calling for Robin when I triggered that alarm. And instead of Robin, a rich aristocratic jerk dressing up for Halloween comes in."

Damian giggled.

"What? It's true. You _are_ a jerk." Garfield said. "So what are we going to do after we see her?"

"Speedy said something about STAR Labs being under ARGUS's watch." Damian said. "They were developing weapons on counter-attacking aliens."

"Weapons on fighting aliens? That's some sci-fi movie crap right there."

"I wish it was just that." Damian said. "Honestly I don't know what to say about ARGUS anymore. Faking my friend's death, giving a manhunt to the entire bat team, hunting aliens, creating a suicide squad, what else can they do?"

"Hunting aliens?" Garfield said. "So you're saying that ARGUS is working in Area 51?"

"Could be." Damian said. "Frankly at this moment, when someone says something absurd about ARGUS, somehow ARGUS is able to make it true. When I say that they're committing military coups in Turbain, it's probably true."

"Wait, is that really true?"

"Yeah. That's true by the way." Damian said. "Thankfully I'm not really the kind of peoples who should bother them for that."

"Why not?" Garfield said. "Dude, thousands die on that war."

"If you want to have the entire America to commit a manhunt to you, be my guest." Damian said. "ARGUS is government funded. So your taxes are going right through their banks."

"So you're saying that the government is evil and Robin, the Boy Wonder, has no power against them."

"They're bad peoples, but in some ways we need them, even though they made some stupid decisions. At times, probably evil decisions too."

"Goddamn it." Garfield said. "So much for freedom."

"I'll deal with them later, when the time is right." Damian said. "For now, we have aliens in our six and we need to do something about it."

##

The reports on whatever happened at Turbain was incredibly shocking especially for ARGUS. The government-funded organization that is tasked on international affairs found the news that one of the terrorists group in Turbain managed to get into the capital and take it over in just an instant. It was quite a surprising news, and there was literally nothing but astonishment on her face.

"How can this happen?" Waller asked towards one of her agents Ishido Maad. "I'm going to need reports."

"No government military members stepped out of Fascana alive." Ishido reported. "We can only determine what's going on if we finally get inside the capital."

"Get one of our agents in there!" Waller shouted. "The hackers should be able to penetrate through the defenses."

"That's... also a problem." Ishido said. "Some of their hackers managed to program the gates so that it can only be opened mechanically from the inside."

"Then have our agents equipped with explosives." Waller said. "Forced entry. Distractions. I don't care. Get our best agents there and find out what's going on!"

##

 _A/N: Thank you so much for everyone who has been following the series. You guys rock. If you're new to this, you can support this series by leaving a review, favorite, or follow the series. :)_


	12. Define 'Beast'

C12: Define 'Beast'

The meeting was conducted in STAR Labs where Dr. Silas Stone also constructed the said Dilustel Armor capable of probably battling against the Kryptonians. He would totally have Kory's input at this moment especially since she was the only person who had a lot of experiences on the aliens. At this moment, if only one armor could be made out of it, probably a reflex

The jet landed on the airport. Being the rich kid that she is, Mia Queen got her limousine parked just right outside where the Wayne Enterprises jet landed. Expectations were high, especially knowing that Mia brought in some friends from the weirdness happening in Star City, including what she called a human Cyborg.

Julia Pennyworth, being Damian's current assistant at that moment, opened up the door and pushed in the button to get the ladder mechanisms out of the plane and into the landing zone. Damian Wayne went out of the plane first, followed by Garfield, Kory, and then later Julia. Thankfully Mia Queen's limousine was permitted to get around the Star City airport. However, they could only get so far, which made both Mia and Karen to have a little bit of discussion.

"So... that's Damian Wayne?" Karen asked.

"Yup." Mia said. "Never seen him up close before?"

"I... no..." Karen said. "Okay, if there's one thing I have to admit, he does look a lot hotter up close."

"He wears tuxedos. That's his thing." Mia said. "Don't worry. You'll get used to seeing his face."

"He looks like he just wakes up from a long ass beauty sleep." Karen said. "From the money he had, it's probably going to be expensive."

"Well he is technically a businessman, but he only owns things." Mia said. "Kind of like my brother with the whole Queen Consolidated thing, but he's obviously not there anymore."

"Yeah. That Mayor thing must've been tiring." Karen said. "I wonder how he would react when he finds out that his own sister is terrorizing the city."

"I didn't terrorize the city." Mia said. "I saved it from a couple of bad guys."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."

"Mia." Damian finally went in closer and approached her. They both shook hands and kept their eyes sharp. "Nice to meet you again."

"Nice to meet you too." Mia said. "Although the last time we met was not in really normal conditions."

"You tell me." Damian said. "How is Oliver doing?"

"He's a bit stressed, but he's doing alright." Mia said. "Being a businessman is one thing. Being a city Mayor is another one. Oh and this is my friend-"

"Karen Beecher. I know who you are." Damian shook Karen's hands. "Dr. Stone speaks highly of your skills."

"I... I'm surprised that he talked about me." Karen said. "I... I don't know what to say. I'm... very honored Mr. Wayne."

Damian giggled. "Please, it's Damian. Now it's your turn to meet my friends."

##

Star City was located right near the coast of California. The beach is one of the best things that ever happened in the city. The hot and bright sun of California was best seen in Star City. The reason why Star City is named on it is because the stars in the night was one of the brightest in the world. You could be trapped inside a cave and still look at it, and have a little bit of hope that everything is going to be okay.

"So... is there something crazy happening in Star City?" Garfield asked.

"There is something crazy." Mia said. "There's a museum in the local town. A bunch of criminals are attempting to steal some form of an ancient Red Stone. Wait, does everyone know that I'm..."

"Everyone here knows." Damian said. "Don't worry. You can trust them."

"Wait, they know?" Karen said. "They know that you're...?"

"The same way that all of you will know that I'm Robin." Damian said. "Thought that you already told her."

"Hey, I may be a mouthful but I know when to keep my mouth shut." Mia said.

Karen was completely uninformed throughout the whole thing that Damian Wayne was Robin, which caused her to freeze in place for about five seconds.

"Anyway, the thief is looking out for this Red Stone." Mia said. "I found the thief but she gets away with it. Normally if it was just a normal thief, I wouldn't let her go, but she's a wizard."

"A... wizard?" Kory asked.

"Someone who has extraordinary powers." Damian said. "I guess after seeing aliens from outer space who can fly and conjure green energy and someone who can turn into any animal, I'm willing to take anything right now."

"An alien that can conjure green energy?" Karen said. "You've... seen this alien before?"

"He's talking about me."

Kory talked in before she conjured the said green energy right in front of Karen. The energy was very small about the size of a ping pong ball and even then, the bright light managed to suck out every other light in the room. This caused the scientist Karen to crap her pants, thankfully not literally, and just shrieked her soul out of her body. Mia however, was not remotely surprised, and could only give a small grin.

"What the?" Karen said, shrieking. "What the hell is this?"

"A little bit of magic." Damian said. "Either that, or an alien subjected into experiments in how to harness ultraviolet light."

"That's... insane."

"Said the girl wearing a hi-tech shrinking bee suit." Mia said. "Get off of me!"

Karen was clutching on Mia's shoulders and Mia forced her out of it.

"So knowing that you're one of STAR Labs' Lab Rats, I assume you have special abilities too?" Mia asked towards Garfield.

"Yeah, but don't think that it was easy to control this." Garfield said.

"So what's your abilities?" Mia asked. "No seriously. I really want to know. It sounds pretty badass."

"Well, I can do this."

Garfield was able to turn from his normal human skin into his beast form in an instant. He simply thought about it and he would literally transform into a beastly, green furry creature of some form. His hair turned from a blonde into a more contrast dark green, darker than his actual furry skin. The transformation could only startle Karen, and impress someone as weird as Mia.

"That's pretty freaking cool." Mia said.

"Oh my god." Karen said. "What... what are you?"

"I guess you can call me a Changeling... or a Beast Boy." Garfield said. "When the boat fell down, this... beast form emerged from my body. I was drowning and the beast form saved me out of it. However, when I came in ashore, I was permanently green. It took me a while to find out how to control myself so that I can become a human."

"I can't imagine." Mia said. "What can you do with those powers?"

"With this power, I inherit almost every single animal trait that I can think of." Garfield said. "I have the strength of ants that can lift like a hundred times more than their weight. I can communicate with any other animals and even though they didn't look smart, they're actually pretty intelligent. Did you know that Honey Bee knew the world is round way before humans did?"

"Hm..." Mia said. "That's quite interesting."

"What else?" Karen asked.

"My senses are about as strong as dogs." Garfield said. "I have fast metabolism, imitating those of lobsters that is able to repair DNA sequences. I know the direction from this place to the island where I shipwrecked, which now I call Logan Island. It's completely uninhabited and probably uncharted somewhere in the North Pacific Ocean. Now I have my own private island too."

"That's good for you I guess." Damian said.

"Where is it specifically?" Karen asked.

"It's about... 100 miles from Hawaii to the Northwest."

"Wow, you knew that much?" Mia said.

"I know the specifics." Garfield said. "Other than that, I can see what's behind me without turning my head. That's the trait of rabbits. I can sleep while standing up, which is a horse trait. I have the memory of a chicken, and they're incredibly smart by the way. I can swim in the speed of incredibly fast animals like Swordfish. I can roar like a lion. I can have their claws and grow wings on my back. It's any kinds of wings by the way. I'm just about as adaptive as a mouse. I have the lifespan of turtles. I can create very strong spider silks. I can imitate voices. _I can imitate yours for example_."

Garfield started imitating Damian's voice, causing him to widen his eyes.

"Or maybe your voice." Garfield said in Mia's voice.

This time, Mia had her chance to be genuinely surprised. "Okay, that's freaking cool. What kind of animal trait is that?"

"Mockingbirds, of course." Garfield said. "It can go as far as to imitate car alarms. Do you want to hear it?"

"Try not to laugh." Damian said.

Garfield put both of his hand on his mouth. Quite literally, as soon as he put both of his hand on his mouth, his mouth made a noise. To the astonishment of everyone, it sounded just like the most typical of car alarms and it was so accurate it was almost hilarious. It sounded almost exactly like that. Not only that, but he was able to add in car horns in the middle of it.

"I don't really have to put both of my hands in my mouth, but trust me. It's going to look ridiculous if I do."

"Okay, that was both funny and impressive." Mia said.

"Oh and the best part, I can see in ultraviolet and infrared light like goldfish." Garfield said. "I haven't gone through all of my traits as of yet, but trust me. You don't want to wake up the beast."

"The... beast?" Damian said.

"There's an even bigger beast inside me." Garfield said. "A werewolf-like form that I cannot control. I usually get to him when I'm like really angry, which thankfully wasn't always the case."

"So don't be angry. Don't make Garfield angry. And don't wake the beast up." Mia said. "I got it."

Garfield smirked. "Thanks."

"My spotlight has been stolen by a Beast Boy." Kory said. "I appreciate that."

"Sorry, Kory." Garfield said. "Maybe you're just not that special."

"Oh, we can test that."

Kory got her starbolt out of her hand as Garfield smirked in enjoyment, but Damian gave them warnings before they could even go that far.

"If you both wanted to spar, I don't think now's the right time." Damian said. "I would love to spar with all of you. Starfire, Beast Boy, Speedy, and finally Bumblebee."

That once again got Karen startled. "You... knew?"

"Mia just said something about hi-tech shrinking suit." Damian said. "There's another shrinking suit that Dr. Palmer made and it just happened that he made it for you. I am Robin after all."

"Oh, just because you're a famous vigilante, you can use that as an excuse." Karen said. "Whatever. You're right. I am Bumblebee. I use a hi-tech shrinking suit and can fly. I have enhanced strength and abilities and I can shrink into a very tiny scale but still have enough strength to take you all down."

"Ooh that's interesting." Garfield said. "In a scale of amoebas to ants?"

"Ants."

"You'll lose." Garfield said. "I can shrink into an amoeba and cause your suit to malfunction."

"I want you to try."

"Again, let's do the sparring thing later." Damian said. "Wait, I thought we're going to turn right."

"You go to STAR Labs if you turn right." Mia said. "We're not going there for this moment."

"Where are we going?" Damian said.

"Karen's house. We need to pick something up." Mia said, causing Karen to look at her with sharp eyes. "Okay, pick _someone_ up. Jesus Karen. Your boyfriend is literally a walking Swiss army knife."

"That's not funny, Mia." Karen said.

"Okay it isn't." Mia said. "But you guys need to see him. Then you'll understand why I said that."

"So we're going to see this Cyborg you're talking about." Damian said.

"Cyborg?" Garfield asked. "Oh let me guess. This guy got his hands amputated and he got a prosthetic hand. I won't call that a cyborg. A cyborg is half-human half-robot. That's like one quarter robot and human rest."

"And you are correct, Garfield." Karen said. "Except this time, we have a three quarter robot and a quarter human."

"Oh wow." Garfield said. "That's really rad."

"I don't understand." Kory said. "How can an organic matter join up together with synthetic matters? If you ask me, it would create quite the abomination. An organic-synthetic hybrid is not something that we try in Tamaran. It is an unethical practice that only the Citadelians would use."

"Citadelians?" Karen asked.

"Long story." Damian said. "So we're going to find Victor Stone first and take him to STAR Labs."

"Yes." Mia said. "But the thing is Victor Stone is not an easy person to convince. His daddy issues are a whole lot worse than Luke Skywalker's."

"Oh my god I love that movie!" Garfield said. "I thought Luke is technically a Cyborg too."

"Yes, I have seen this movie." Kory said. "It is fascinating."

"So how about it, Damian?" Mia said. "Can you convince the Cyborg to get his chin up?"

##

"Vic?" Karen knocked on the door. "Vic, open the door."

Victor Stone went on to open the said door for both Karen and the guests. Victor himself didn't look exactly like a Cyborg at that moment, but there definitely was something beyond than just that unusually thick skin and that large physique.

"This is your boyfriend?" Garfield asked. "He's... tall."

"So these are the guys?" Victor asked. "Should I trust them?"

"This is Damian Wayne." Karen said. "He brought in a few friends. You can trust them."

"Yeah, like I don't know who he is." Victor said. "Sorry."

"It's good to see you, Victor." Damian said. "I heard about the incident that happened. I'm surprised that you were able to-"

Damian shook Victor's hands, which was nothing but cybernetics and mechanical parts. This caused him to startle for a bit, and even cause some peoples to slightly jump in to whatever kind of thing that they saw in there.

"I'm sorry." Damian said. "I... didn't know it was that bad."

"You haven't seen my body yet." Victor said. "You thought that you'd be glad that you can get your face fixed, but your body... that's a totally different story."

"Hence the jacket." Damian said. "I understand Victor, but Karen has informed me of everything that you can do. We're going to need you to do something. And of course, that's going to require you to go to STAR Labs."

"I don't want to go there." Victor said. "I don't want to see him."

"Maybe... we should talk inside." Karen interrupted. "Come in. It's my apartment after all."

##

"So... you guys are going to gather up superheroes?" Victor asked. "You gather up superheroes to beat up aliens?"

"And you're a very good candidate." Damian said. "Your powers are going to be more than enough to deal with these aliens that we're going to face."

"What kind of powers do I have?" Victor said. "Are you going to say that I'm capable of throwing it up against the aliens?"

"Your cybernetic parts are going to be useful for fighting the extraterrestrial beings." Damian said. "You were made out of the components of a battle armor. If the world is going to be in danger, the world is going to need someone like you."

"If the world needs saving, I'm going to save it." Victor said. "But the last thing I want to do is to see my dad."

"Wonderful logic there." Mia said. "No wonder your dad dumps you."

Victor stood up from the sofa. He rose up and transformed his right hand into a sonic canon. The canon aimed directly towards Mia, but right in front of the canon already was Kory, who stood up right in front of her and get her green plasma energy ready to fight in the Cyborg. The moment Victor got the glance on the Tamaranean, he startled for a bit.

"What...?" Victor said.

"One more step and you will feel the distaste of the ultraviolet." Kory said.

"Do you like claws or nails?"

Suddenly, Garfield was in the back fully transformed into what could only be described as a werewolf on tight pants. His innocent and playful voice turned into a deep, disturbing, and downright intimidating version of it. To say that Victor was astonished was an understatement. He probably needed a new pants.

"Now that is pretty rad." Mia said.

"Now you see why we came for you."

In the back, Damian Wayne has used up his Palmer Tech molecular storage to bring his Robin costume up and turned himself into the young Gotham City vigilante that he really was. The amount of surprise coming out of his face was unprecendented.

"The world needs your help and you're going to ignore it just because of your father?" Robin said. "I'm all for tolerating some bad peoples, but I cannot tolerate stupidity, especially coming from someone as smart as you."

"Let's make this simple, then." Mia said. "You'll either going to stay here and sit your ass while we're trying to save this world, or you're going to grab some balls and go talk to your dad. If you choose the former, you might as well as live in the moon. You'll love it there. It's not like your dad's going to be there anytime soon, or in fact _anyone_."


	13. Define 'Propulsion'

C13: Define 'Propulsion'

Garfield's last visit to the most prosperous laboratories of America was something that was engrained to wherever they put memories on his head. It was all thanks to Damian Wayne. If not for him, this virus that could've killed him at anytime soon couldn't be cured. The Sakutia virus was a rare disease, only engrained in some individuals. While not contagious, it was deadly, and it could kill anyone at anytime. The cure was found in STAR Labs, all thanks to Garfield's DNA being researched extensively and a cure being developed and in the works.

It was just unfortunate that the moment he stepped in here, it was the beginning of his ruined life. While he managed to get himself used to with the lives being alone, he wasn't satisfied. He was never going to be happy if there was nobody to be with him. He just went in along for the ride, to whatever kind of world that heroism is going to give to him.

The biggest part of the show was nothing more then Cyborg trying to reconcile with his father. He wasn't sure about the backstory, but knowing how he acted towards the mere mention of him, their relationship wasn't exactly peaceful. So it is no wonder that before entering the main labs area, he had to ask Damian about it.

"Well, this is it." Victor said. "I'm hoping that this is going to be worth it."

"It's better than seeing Star City getting blown up." Damian said. "This alien threat is serious."

"If you want, we're going to enter first." Karen said. "You can stay in here until you're ready, but just so you know I'm watching you."

"Yeah, I'd prefer that." Victor said.

So it was Damian who entered first Victor just sort of stood up on the other side, preparing his mental conditions so that he could get in. Karen watched him out as he prepared his mental gymnastics, and the rest came into the lab.

The labs were sprawling with scientists like ants surrounding a pile of sugar. It was about as large as a warehouse, but it was split in several sections with labels on them. There was a special lab dedicated for the Dilustel Armor just like what Damian said. There was also the Aerospace Project going on in order to help Kory to get out of this planet. That was the first thing that caught her attention as she glanced it without any questions.

"Don't worry." Damian said, facing towards Kory. "We're going to get you home too."

"If you mind, I would like to visit." Kory said.

"We'll talk to the doctor first." Damian said. "Then you can go there."

"Okay." Kory nodded.

Damian directed the group into meeting with Dr. Silas Stone right inside the Dilustel Armor project room. The armor itself was engrained in a matte grey color. It didn't look as Garfield expected. He expected it to have a more Power on it. Instead, the size was at least half the size he expected. Damian said that it was a project observed by ARGUS, but ARGUS could not spend their best agents to take a watch in it, as they were busy handling the civil war in Turbain and the war on terror in the Middle-East. ARGUS gave them a week to work on their hi-tech armors, but the doctor reported something different.

"Dr. Stone." Damian greeted. "It's a pleasure to meet you up front."

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Wayne." Silas said. "I didn't expect you to come in with Mia here."

"Oh, I don't get to have the chance to be called Ms. Queen?" Mia said. "I'm honored. Really."

"Your attitude is precisely why I'm not ready to call you that." Silas said. "I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne. It's been a while since we see face to face. Do you happen to see my assistant Karen?"

"She's... taking some stuff in the back. She'll be here." Damian said. "Anyway, how is the armor?"

"The armor is working well." Silas said. "We have given it a proper test. It will give you strength that is enough to beat this suspected alien race, which I still find hard to believe."

"I can confirm that this alien race is indeed true." Damian said. "These aliens have the ill-intent to invade this planet and attack whoever and whatever is inside it, and I have to do something about it. Order your strongest scientist to dismantle this armor. As a matter of ARGUS, please forward any of your ARGUS contacts to me. Like I said on the phone, I will deal with Waller."

"Of course." Silas said.

"You can continue your work on the aerospace project." Damian said. "Speaking of which, my friend here is requesting authorized access. I assume Dr. Palmer is in there."

"Yes." Silas said. "And who is your friend?"

"Kory Anders." Damian said. "She's a... first semester student from MIT. She's very interested to see the aerospace project and wants to inquire some information."

"It's a pleasure, Dr. Stone." Kory answered, shaking his hands. "I'm just going to ask a few questions on the research and development aspects particularly in how are you going to implement the life support and FTL engines."

"I..." Silas said. "We haven't gone that far."

"You couldn't even get in through the warp drives." Kory said. "Anyway, I think I would be off there now if you wouldn't mind. I'll see you later, Damian."

"I'll... follow her in the back." Mia said. "I'll ruin the whole mood up."

"I'll see you later." Damian said.

"Okay then." Silas said. "You might want to introduce me to your other friends?"

"Oh yes of course." Damian said. "Here's Julia Pennyworth, my personal assistant and Alfred's niece."

"Nice to meet you." Julia shook his hands.

"Likewise."

"And finally, I'm sure you're familiar with Garfield Logan."

"Garfield... Logan?" Silas shook his hands. "You're the boy who contracted Sakutia, right? I thought you died on the boat accident."

"Well, it turns out that he didn't." Damian said. "I have a rescue team that managed to find him somewhere on an island in..."

"Northwest of Hawaii on the Pacific Ocean." Garfield said.

"Yeah." Damian said. "And he was..."

"Like in the movie Castaway. You know that movie?" Garfield said. "After Damian found me, I stayed in the Gotham General for a while. He treated me there."

"Well, I'm glad that you're here." Silas said. "Unfortunately I'm not very sure of the significance of his presence."

"I'm going to inquire you in a moment." Damian said. "However, I request some privacy, preferably now."

"I can do it." Silas said.

"Dr. Stone."

Karen opened up the door. Right behind her, the robot Cyborg Victor walked just right in. Dr. Silas Stone completely threw his identity and function as the doctor and widened his eyes the moment he saw his own son just right there. He cannot believe it with his own eyes. So he took off his glasses and readjusted his view. There was no other doubt. The person right in front of him is definitely his son. To see him walking in just right into the labs managed to surprise him in almost every way.

"Oh my god." Silas said. "Is that..."

"Dad..."

Silas didn't waste his time. As he put his glasses on his pockets, he ran up towards his son, who was actually a lot taller than him, and hugged him as long as he could. Damian once thought that there was nothing on the heart of many robots and synthetic beings, but knowing that half of Victor is human after all, he let it all go. All the cries, all the tears, all the painful memories that his father honestly once thought that his son disappeared. It all fade into the memories.

Julia and Karen shared their sympathy, crying out for Victor at a time when it was incredibly appropriate. The son reunited with his father. The creator reunited with his creation. A wonderful time to be, at least for everyone here.

"I'm... I'm sorry, dad." Victor said. "I'm sorry..."

"No need to say anything anymore, son." Silas said. "I'm glad that you're here. Did you suffer through some irregularities? We should check the functions out."

"I'm fine, dad." Victor said. "All of my components are functional. You don't need to worry."

"We're still going to do some checks." Silas said. "I'm so worried, son. There has to be a few things that we missed."

"Okay." Victor said. "I'll let you to check on me. Just... promise that you'll not going to do anything bad."

"He won't be." Karen said. "Right, Doctor?"

"Yes of course, son." Silas said. "Alright everybody, clear the armor out! Make space! We're going to run some diagnostics!"

Silas gave the scientists order to get Victor Stone checked out. He was hoping that he could manage to get all of the subsystems restored, and if the rest of Victor's body was either entirely dependant on the armor or he could get around as much as he could.

"You know, Damian." Julia said. "I wished that your dad was still alive."

"That's what I've always wanted." Damian said. "But he's not here. He's out there in the afterlife, finally reunited with his parents. He saved me. He saved Dick. Dick saved Tim. Tim saved Cassandra. Everybody was connected. If it weren't for Bruce, Dick, and a lot of other friends even including Garfield, I wouldn't be here."

"And you're going to fight interstellar aliens." Julia said. "Talk about upgrading your hero status."

"Maybe I should." Damian said. "Come to think of it, I should probably get a new armor redesign."

"Oh! Oh! Leave it to me!" Julia said.

"Of course." Damian said. "The first people that needs to redesign the armor is the same person who loves furries and gender-bend every single boys you come into sight."

"Aww come on! I won't gender bend you. I promise!" Julia said. "Although your female version is definitely going to be very cute."

"Even if I were a female, I wouldn't screw you." Damian said. "And if I would, will that be incest?"

"It's not incest. We're technically not siblings." Julia said. "Hey, I want your professional opinion on something. If I write you off normally and introduce you to your female version in a parallel universe and it turns out that you both fall in love with each other, is that basically telling you to go screw yourself?"

"My professional opinion is that you should shut that mouth up."

Julia giggled.

##

She found the idea of going through the vast empty space fascinating. Of course she was going to learn everything that she could to be one of the major Tamaranean space explorers. Apparently not a lot of Tamaraneans ventured through the outer space and went back in. She didn't care about the dangers of space travel. She went through it anyway. Of course she had to be physically fit for space travels. If she couldn't qualify herself as a soldier, she couldn't become an astronaut. Astronauts were soldiers, risking their lives in the vast empty space to further enhance the development of their kind.

She entered the room of the research project and was immediately blastered with imagery of blueprints, chalkboards that were both filled and not filled. Countless amount of scientists working on developing the formula to create the most perfect of space travel, just like what her race wanted. Except this time, the Earthlings have not progressed that far. They managed to get into their own moon, but they were unable to travel in further into the depths of the Milky Way.

"I wish I was this smart." Mia said as she appeared in her back. "You know, I thought doctors were supposed to look nerdy. Then you introduce some 25-30 year old Opal graduates and the first thing that you want is to ask one of these guys for a date."

"I would doubt that they wanted that." Kory said. "They might have their own spouses."

"You know, for an alien you sure as hell know a lot about our language." Mia said. "I don't know how quick you take up lessons in English."

"I learn a language by kissing a particular individual." Kory said. "I know in your culture, it sounds very strange."

"Strange? That's like saying you can learn chess by letting a chess player defecate to you." Mia said.

"That's... incredibly disgusting." Kory said. "And what is chess?"

"It's a board game." Mia said. "Okay, so you _don't_ know everything, but you do know one thing: Was it Damian that you kissed?"

"I... yes..." Kory said. "And please do not suggest any further development from both of us."

"Oh, no I didn't. You did." Mia said. "I'm looking forward for the future."

"Stop." Kory said. "I'm here to discuss how I'm able to travel back to Tamaran, not about pursuing an intimate relationship."

"Do you have someone in there?" Mia said.

"What are you girls doing here?" Dr. Palmer approached the two the moment they just stood up in the front door chatting normally. "This place is unauthorized."

"We do have authorization." Kory said. "Dr. Stone has provided both of us access here."

"And besides, the company that you were running in is still under my name." Mia said. "And I funded this project too."

"I always wondered why did you." Palmer asked.

"Because Damian said so." Mia said. "I can trust him more than I can trust you... ATOM."

"What..." Palmer went in closer towards Mia. "How... how did you know?"

"Karen told me." Mia said. "Oh wait she didn't. I just had suspicions. I confronted Karen about it, and instead of saying no I wasn't, she said yes. The rest is easy."

Palmer sighed. "It was still on prototype. Karen and I are working on perfecting it."

"Could be useful, you know?" Mia said. "I really want that storage ring. It's pretty freaking cool."

"I really don't trust you." Palmer said. "Anyway, is there any reason why you two were authorized here?"

"Oh, I'll leave that to my friend." Mia said. "Kory, do you want to tell him? He's in charge."

"My name is Kory Anders." Kory said. "I'm here with Damian Wayne. I just want to ask a few questions on your aerospace project, and maybe contribute some necessary information."

"Information? Like... what?"

"First of all, I noticed that the blueprints that you have were still using the basic chemical propulsions." Kory said. "If you want intergalactic space travel, you're going to need to use more than just standard chemical propulsions. You're going to need to use an ion propulsion."

"Ah yes, the ion propulsion system." Dr. Palmer said. "The ion thrusters were only capable of going in the speed of a crippled dog. How would you be able to use it for interstellar travels?"

"We don't. We use a warp drive."

"Warp drive?" Pamer scoffed. "You cannot be serious. To do so, you're going to have to break through the speed of light."

"If you would listen to me, I will tell you how it is possible." Kory said. "I'm just asking you to trust me on this."

"Alright, fine." Palmer said. "I'll listen, but I'm hoping that this is good."


	14. Define 'Compliance'

C14: Define 'Compliance'

"It seems that you're just fine." Silas gave the final reports on the diagnostics of the components of his son. "Your heart rate is normal. Your body functions normally. I'm... very surprised. I'm surprised that the armor managed to merge in with your body rather easily."

"I'm a lot more surprised that you're able to recreate him." Damian said. "What is the type of the armor?"

"My armor is made out of hexacarbon." Victor said. "The armor was planned for bulletproof armors, but it was too solid. However, it is very effective. It is a thousand times stronger than titanium and a hundred times lighter."

"Kind of like graphene." Damian said. "Also carbon and also several degrees better than titanium."

"That's where you get your bulletproof suits." Victor said. "Mine was just an experimental product. Guess we see how that experiment went."

"It doesn't look bad in you." Garfield said. "You look like a Terminator in it."

"Very funny." Victor said.

"This kind of power that you have is just insane." Karen said. "You can literally finish the War on Terror with this. You're almost indestructible, bulletproof, and you don't even have to kill anyone. That sonic blaster you have in your hand has the option for a non-lethal blast."

"What does the sonic blaster do?" Damian asked.

"It sends in ultrasonic energy that is able to propel anything in front of it." Karen said. "The power ranges from moving a bus five feet away into sending it propelling five miles away."

"That's not exactly lethal."

"I said non-lethal only if you know how to use it." Karen said. " The only thing that's left is if you color yourself red white and blue. Then we have the American hero."

"Heh." Victor said. "You know, as much as I'd love to see this world in peace, I don't expect fighting aliens from outer space to become a part of my life."

"You're going to get used to it." Damian said.

"No offense Damian, but so far we have like three superheroes." Garfield said. "We're going to need a few more."

"You're right." Damian said. "And I think I know who to take."

## 

"So you're going to find this wizard?" Mia asked. "You know, knowing that I only had a big ass Cyborg, a black girl who wears a bee suit that can shrink itself, and a girl who can only shoot bows and arrows, I guess I definitely going to need some help, especially from a guy who can turn into mosquitos."

"Can you turn into mosquitos?" Julia directed his sight to Garifeld.

"Uh... yeah I can." Garfield said. "And don't worry. I won't turn into mosquitos into a girl's bathroom."

"I'm going to make a tattoo for that." Mia said.

"Okay. I promise." Garfield said.

"So where is this girl located?" Damian said.

"The girl came from Keystone City in Missouri." Mia said. "Let's consider some possibilities. The girl went back into the museum to return the stone. She stayed there at least until 7:30 and then immediately quits. There's little known about this girl other than she works in a church."

"A religious person?" Damian said. "Why would a religious person steal an ancient stone?"

"Dude, you should see the Da Vinci Code." Garfield said. "Historically Inaccurate, but this is the kind of stuff that religious peoples get."

"They didn't steal ancient artifacts in Da Vinci Code, Gar. I watched it. It was crap." Julia said. "No. It's kind of like Indiana Jones."

"What kind of stone that she's taking anyway?" Garfield asked.

"That's a very good question." Mia took out her smartphone and opened the recording app. "Here's her own words."

 _"This 'Red Stone' is misclassified by some morons at the Central University as the 'ancient' remnants of the Pre-Columbian era."_ Rachel explained. _"When in truth, it actually is a meteor from outer space falling down about two years ago."_

 _"How did nobody noticed?"_ a mercenary said.

 _"Government has a bunch of peoples that can make things disappear."_

 _"That sounds like a conspiracy theory."_

 _"That's why I didn't share it with you."_ Rachel said. _"I have a thing with ancient relics and stones. I know exactly what and how they looked and I can easily distinguish them with meteors. Sufficed to say that they got this one wrong, and intentionally so. I don't know why, but let's continue before we come into aliens as our conclusion."_

"This is too much of a coincidence." Damian said. "This Red Stone is still on the museum right now and it's misclassified as a common stone. What does this red stone do towards these aliens? And why are the government trying to hide it out?"

"Because this stone is expensive." Mia said. "And that aliens are going to buy it in no matter what money that they can get."

"How are they going to get- Ah..." Damian interrupted his own words after remembering something. "Of course."

"What?" Mia asked.

"Remember the bank hacks between the five different cities?" Damian said. "One billion dollars in cash all stolen from five different banks. When did it all start?"

"That was... about a week ago." Julia said. "So you're saying that these aliens managed to crack through these banks?"

"Yup." Damian said. "Where did your investigation on these hackers lead?"

"Well, I'm still looking for it." Julia said. "But I think I'm going to need Barbara's help for this."

"Then go get it. I hope she's not busy." Damian said. "Do we have anything else to go with?"

"The stone has two fingerprints in them." Mia said. "One is Rachel's fingerprints, and the other one is completely unidentified."

"Unidentified?" Damian said. "How can it be unidentified?"

"Just scan it yourself." Mia said. "I got access to ARGUS-class identity files, and yet I cannot find a match to this fingerprint."

"How big is the fingerprint?" Garfield asked. "I mean if it's the fingerprints of a three year old, then it probably makes sense."

"It's the finger of an adult." Mia said.

"Is it possible for someone to have their fingerprints not identified?" Garfield asked.

"Nope." Mia said. "Unless if you're a professional fugitive trying to kill the CIA."

"Or a humanoid alien coming from outer space." Garfield said. "They don't have time to wait in line for the DMV, do they?"

"I..." Damian widened his eyes before scratching his chin. "I admit that is a possibility."

"Okay, so this girl who has magic finds this stone so that this alien from outer space can use it... for some reason." Mia said. "Why would the alien needs the girl? Why didn't the alien just, you know, take the stone?"

"Maybe because they didn't want to risk exposure." Damian said. "Or maybe because they need that stone for something that they're making, and they don't want us to find out what they're trying to make."

"Either way, we need to get prepared." Mia said. "We got her address. So I'd suggest to suit up at night."

"At night? Sneaking up to her house?" Garfield said. "Why not just go to the church? I mean she's right there."

"Then you should probably go there." Damian said. "I'm going to watch in the progress around here."

"Okay." Garfield said. "So... Rachel Roth, right? Where's this church?"

"Right here."

Damian showed the address on Star City using the GPS. Through the Wayne Satellites, he was able to render the landscape of the area of the target. After understanding the area, Garfield simply confirmed his understanding.

"I got it." Garfield said. "I'll be right back."

"And Mia," Damian said. "I'd be glad if you can find a replacement of the stone in the museum."

"Whoa, did you just ask me to steal it?"

"No. I ask you to replace it." Damian said. "If the aliens are looking for that stone, we need to find out why."

##

It was quite odd. There was quite a number of peoples inside the church in the middle of the day. And immediately, Garfield could get a glance on the girl. She was sitting in the front row and Garfield was sitting on the second row from the front. She was way across into the east side. He was in the west. Instead of wearing a typical nurse outfit, she was wearing a purple hoodie. And instead of praying, she glanced over her smartphone, probably reading something rather important.

Garfield approached her closely. Once Rachel got a sight on Garfield, she got her attention away from him and continued her reading, of what appeared to be a document of some sort.

"Hey." Garfield said.

"Hi." Rachel answered.

"Would... would you mind..."

"No."

"Okay."

Garfield took a seat right beside her. She kept on reading in whatever kind of thing she was reading. He couldn't help but to try to notice it for once. However, he couldn't make it out. The book was in German, and he couldn't translate it.

"Mind if I ask something?"

"Not interested."

Garfield glanced at her. "What?"

"I'm not interested for a lunch."

"I'm not offering a lunch." Garfield said. "I'm not too hungry anyway."

"So why are you here?" Rachel said. "Why are you interested for a conversation?"

"I'm a lot more interested in what you're reading."

Rachel stopped scrolling the book. "It's Mein Kampf."

"Mein Kampf?" Garfield said. "What, just because it's German, you said that it was Mein Kampf?"

"Clearly you are a lot more knowledgeable than you look." Rachel said. "Do you know what the book is about?"

"Yes." Garfield said. "Adolf Hitler. Socialism. His struggle. Prejudice towards the Jews. Published in 1925 with the second volume a year after."

"I'm surprised. Most peoples don't know about that." Rachel said.

"Well, I love History. So..."

"So you know what my ideology really is."

"Yes, but I don't recall Adolf Hitler describing how incredibly interesting ponies and fairies are."

Rachel glanced at Garfield, realizing that he just understood what he read.

 _"Who are you?"_ Rachel asked in German.

 _"I think we should speak this in private."_ Garfield said. _"Any place you want. I prefer outside."_

Rachel sharpened her eyes. Garfield was into something, but from her face, he knew that she wasn't quite sure about what.

 _"Follow me."_ Rachel said. _"I know a good place."_

##

Garfield was brought into the rooftops on the building right next into the church. After climbing in three stories up, they finally met in a not so private place. There were some peoples who prefer the joy of climbing on the top of the building like this, and there were so many just enjoying the view right near the beach of Star City.

"I wonder." Garfield said. "Why here? I mean it's the outside sure, but it's not really-"

Garfield's insticts knew that he was in danger. His animal insticts pointed out into a nearby needle, very small and tiny in place and observeable only to the most perceptive of eyes. Garfield caught the said needle in a quick motion. As he turned his head around, he saw Rachel, face about as surprised as when Damian found out he was still alive.

"Wow. I didn't expect that." Garfield said. "I heard of acupuncture. You put a needle in someone's most vital points and they could get healed, but not until you find out that you can put it in a specific spot to knock someone out. Or maybe in your case, since you clearly know a lot more than what you're doing, probably extract some truth."

"Who are you?"

"I'll tell about that later." Garfield said. "I'm just curious. Why did you throw a needle right near my vital point?"

"Because I don't trust you." Rachel said. "And I'm going to do everything to extract the truth out of you."

"That's... not so nice." Garfield said. "I mean what if it's just a guy wanting to have lunch with you?"

"Nobody wants to date me."

"Can't think why." Garfield said. "Especially when they know that you have some... special abilities?"

Rachel sharpened her eyes. "Oh... you knew."

"Yeah. So?"

"You know, I really thought you're smart."

Rachel used her telekinesis to force-grab Garfield at his neck. She lifted her up using a force pretty much just like a Jedi. Later, Rachel slowly lifted her up into the stairway's wall, essentially pinning him down there. Rachel went in closer and closer towards him before Garfield could finally feel her hand circling on his neck, choking him out.

"I..." Garfield struggled to speak.

"Who are you?"

"Okay! Okay! I'll tell you!" Garfield said. "Just... do me a favor."

"What?"

"Don't blink."

"What?"

Eventually, Rachel blinked out of reflex. The moment she blinked, she realized that Garfield was lost. Rachel widened her eyes. She wondered how something like this could happen. She felt something rather funny in her right hand before she flipped in and realized that a green praying mantis was roaming on her hand.

Rachel belched as she noticed the said mantis. She shook her hand to get the said thing away from her hand. The mantis wasn't too large however and immediately disappeared out of her sight. Speaking of disappear, the man with the blonde hair and witty remarks also disappeared, probably alongside that praying mantis. She wasn't quite sure how to describe that man, but he was quite clever on escaping that type of magic.

Knowing that he was completely out of business, Rachel opened the door that will lead into the staircase leading out of the apartment, but that is until the blonde man appeared just right on the other side of the door. That alone startled the sorceress. She froze right on place with eyes wide. She found it quite amazing that he was able to completely trick her out. That was quite the magic.

"What?" Garfield said. "Surprised to see me here?"

"H... How?"

"You're a sorceress _and_ a magician." Garfield said. "I think you can figure it out."

"No, I can't." Rachel said. "How did you do that?"

"Okay first of all, it's been fun playing around." Garfield said. "But I'm not trying to hurt you. You can force-choke me again anytime you want and I won't escape this time, but just let me explain things. Deal?"

"I... okay." Rachel said. "Explain yourself."

"Alright." Garfield said. "My name is Garfield Logan. I guess you can call me Beast Boy."

"Beast... Boy?"

"Do you want me to show another magic?"

Garfield showed the skin on his right hand. The skin was normal at first, but slowly enough it turned green and furry. His other normal skin slowly turned every single part of his body to green. When it came into his face, his blonde hair turned dark green and his face had lots of green fur. It all connected all the way into his body and all the way into his left hand. Rachel could only stand there, watching.

"That's magic for you, or more accurately science I guess." Garfield said. "I can transform into any animals that you can think of. Thanks to this ATOM Storage Shrinker, after transforming into small animals and get back to my human form, I can get my clothes back."

"Okay." Rachel said. "What do you want?"

"I know what you did in that museum."

Rachel sharpened her eyes before sighing out on what he just said. "Oh, that."

"And I have a few friends here who are interested on why you're stealing that stone." Garfield said. "That stone has your fingerprints in it."

"Yeah, I know your friends." Rachel said. "But they won't bring me to the police. They'll just going to let me go. I returned the stone back. What else do you want?"

"Do you know the type of peoples that you were dealing with?"

"No, and I'm not interested." Rachel said.

"What if I say that this man is an alien from outer space threatening to blow up the world?" Garfield said. "And the only way for him to do that is if he reach that stone?"

"What... Aliens?" Rachel said before scoffing it out. "You can't be serious."

"Oh I am serious." Garfield said. "Judging from the two fingerprints that we've found on that stone, I assume that you have met this man, and you see how troublesome he got. The fingerprints are unidentifiable, which means that this man is an incredibly dangerous criminal who have removed all traces of identity and is apparently interested in a stone more common than a sheet of paper, or a humanoid alien from outer space that doesn't go into the DMV."

Rachel paused for a moment, considering his possibilities. "What do you want from me?"

"Eye-witness testimony and your telekinesis abilities." Garfield said. "You saw this alien up front. You're going to tell us about it. And we could also use your abilities."

"No."

"What?" Garfield snapped. Well, that was quite the answer.

"I said... no."

"What?" Garfield said. "Why not?"


	15. Define 'Abduction'

C15: Define 'Abduction'

"I don't care about aliens." Rachel said. "I don't care about the world. Why should I really care about it? It's going to blow up anyway."

Garfield didn't really want to force her to join the group, but it was obvious that her powers and skills were going to be needed to save this world. The one thing that surprised him was that she was lying. She was lying about not caring about anyone's lives and especially the world she was living in. He wondered what made her to do so. There had to be a better reason for it.

"I... okay." Garfield said. "If that's exactly what you want, I'm not forcing you out. Can I ask a few questions, though?"

"Just one question." Rachel said. "And I cannot guarantee that I would answer it either."

"Okay."

Garfield really had to get his brains working on this time. As a loner who didn't really get along very well with other friends back in Elementary, he resorted into reading books. A few of them included history books and novels. Beyond that however, he wasn't really that smart.

"Um... do you have any family?" at least he tried.

"No."

"Okay." Garfield knew she was lying. There was in some ways hope to at least turn her into the good side, but perhaps asking her is not the right way. So he turned himself into a green eagle and flied off back into STAR Labs, unsatisfied with his results.

##

Garfield Logan went back to STAR Labs with very unfavorable results. Mia went to glance on the explanations that were provided by Dr. Palmer and Kory Anders. Their debates gone to the point of counting physics equations and gravitational quantum mechanics. Mia stood bewildered, crossing her hands and unable to get the sequences right. Not even Garfield could make it out. Tons of technobabbles later, Mia went out of the whiteboard and finally glanced at Garfield Logan.

"Oh great you're back." Mia said. "Finally, I can talk with someone as stupid."

"Wow. You're nice." Garfield said. "Although to be fair, I'm not good at math and physics myself. Did you replace the stone?"

"Thankfully it was a piece of cake." Mia said. "A few days ago, GCPD got a hold on that stone for fingerprint testing, which would've taken them about a day without Victor. They replaced the common stone in the museum with the stolen stone. I replaced their stone with the common one. Piece of cake."

"That's great." Garfield said. "I wish I was just as successful."

"How's the mission?"

"She's not coming."

"What? Oh well, thanks for trying, I guess." Mia said. "All bets are off. We're sneaking to her house. Let's abduct her out."

"Whoa dude. I won't be doing that if I were you." Garfield said. "She could choke you out like a jedi."

"Doesn't matter." Mia said. "I'm going to do everything I can to get her. If she's not in our side, she's against us."

"Mia, she's not against us. She just doesn't care." Garfield said. "She's not going to care at all. If we can't do it the nice way-"

"Then we're going to do it the hard way."

"What, no!" Garfield said. "I... urgh fine. If you want to do it the hard way, be my guest."

"Night time then!" Mia said. "I'm definitely going to get her."

##

 _"Any progress on finding Conner?"_ Damian asked via phone towards Stephanie, who was still at a nearby diner doing her job.

"No luck." Stephanie said. "Ever since I told him to freak off or something, he just left. Not sure where he is right now. I mean he could be anywhere."

 _"Damn it."_ Damian said. _"Well in that case, he's probably regrouping. Have you checked in with the doctors?"_

"What? Why?"

 _"Well, it's going to sound weird, but I'm worried that he's-"_

"Damian, if I got STDs, I would've known about it just now." Stephanie said. "Besides, never thought that you're going to be the one asking me for STD."

 _"How are you and Tim?"_

"We're... getting used to with things." Stephanie said. "Barbara thankfully still has her game. She's monitoring the entire Gotham City for Conner. And by the way, he's sleeping on Dick's apartment for a while. He worried that if Conner saw me with him, he would get the wrong message."

 _"I don't even know if Conner stil wants to pursue a relationship with you even after all of that."_ Damian said. _"Regardless, give me any reports if you find him. We're working on our team here. Let's just hope that the last thing we get in there is reports on alien attack."_

"I really hope there won't be." Stephanie said. "I'll talk to you later."

Stephanie switched the call into Tim, who was also still looking for the alien but couldn't find any significant results.

"Any luck?"

 _"Nah."_ Tim said. _"He's really hard to find you know? I mean talk about 24/7 surveillance and face detection and we still couldn't find him."_

 _"And please send my regards to Damian who managed for successfully burning my PC up."_ Barbara said.

"Well, I'm sure that he can change that." Stephanie said. "How are you and Dick?"

 _"We're doing fine."_

"Can I see Mary again?"

 _"Not this time."_

"Alright then." Stephanie said. "Keep on watching. I'll call you back later. It's been too freaking busy here."

##

"Well, that is all for the diagnostics, son." Silas said. "I have tweaked some of the components inside your armor. The calibrations are a little bit off on your sonic gun, but I have fixed it. You're good to go."

"You still can't give me human skins, can't you?"

"Your skin graft skin tissue did not mesh well with your cybernetic components." Silas said. "You're going to need a bandage or a mask."

"Eh. It's getting real uncomfortable anyway." Victor looked back into a nearby mirror to look at his face. "Jesus. Garfield was right. I _really_ look like a Terminator."

"Red eyes, metallic plates on half of your face, dead giveaway." Mia said. "Just be glad that nobody fries your skin. Otherwise that skull would make you look really ugly."

"No kidding." Victor said. "Anyway, how's the progress on finding this alien?"

"Well, that's why I'm going to need Dr. Stone to take care of it." Mia took out the stone from the museum. "Here's a stone sample from the museum that was stolen last night but reappeared again. It was stolen by someone who knew a lot more about archaeology, geology, and stone relics. She said that this stone was fake and that it was a meteor from outer space purposedly disguised as a common stone. I'm not sure what made her say that, but there has to be something in it that we can use."

"I'm going to take a look on it." Silas said.

"Good." Mia said. "And Vic, Damian tells me that once you're done with the diagnostics, he needs to see you in the rooftop."

"Oh, alright." Victor said. "Wait, why the rooftop?"

"Because it's private."

##

Victor and Mia went out into the rooftop to find Damian and Garfield, crossing their hands and waiting for both of them to at least speak up. All this time, they were constructing a team to fight in the alien threat, and wondering if this alien threat can be fought or even be defeated.

"Oh, there you are." Damian said. "I really thought that it's going to be just the two of us."

"Where is Kory?" Garfield asked.

"She said that she's almost done." Mia said. "After tons of technobabbles from both of them, from what it sounded like, I think Palmer was convinced."

"He was more than convinced."

Kory came up from behind and reported on the issue. "I managed to explain him about the warp drive, but he wanted me to stay at least after the alien invasion."

"Well, I guess there's that." Damian said. "How is the progress on Rachel?"

"I... couldn't convince her." Garfield said. "If I were you, I'd stay away. She just choke me out with the Force and pinned me down a wall."

"Pussy."

"Watch it, Mia." Damian said. "Okay, Rachel is not with us, but I think we can definitely manage on our own. Knowing that Rachel Roth isn't going to be joining us anytime soon, just so you know that we're all a team here. What we should do is to stick together. This alien problem is real, and that we're going to do everything we can to defend this Earth."

"And take them out." Kory said. "They're going to destroy this Earth no matter what. I suggest you all to give your best force."

"Wait, Karen is not coming?" Mia asked.

"She's important for the Aerospace project." Damian said. "The last thing we wanted is to risk her life."

"Whoa dude." Garfield said. "Are you saying that we're... expendable?"

"And you're saying that we can die in this mission?" Victor asked.

"Of course we can die. What do you expect?" Mia said. "We're fighting aliens that has the punch of a C4 bomb. If you do your job well and you know how to stay alive, then we're good."

"Oh my god..." Garfield said. "Oh my god... are you serious?"

"Dude, I didn't sign up for this." Victor said.

"The hell?" Mia said. "At one moment, you said that you wanted to be a hero and save this world, but when you're confronted with the issue of death, you have to whine it all out."

"Dude, I'm not really in the sort of mood for dying." Garfield said. "Look, I'm just so glad that I'm alive right now, but being punched by an alien like that again and break my skins and bones, god knows how I'm going to get back again."

"We still have STAR Labs who can treat you out." Mia said. "For god's sake both of you. If you really love this world and you want this world to stay alive, stop being such a pussy and be ready to-"

"It's okay, Mia." Damian said. "I understand that you both are scared. I was also scared when I got into my first mission. I have to assassinate some important peoples and fight a lot of peoples throughout. I went through several gunshots and cut wounds and many life-threatening situations. I cannot lie that I've been through the same thing when I was Robin back in the day, but that never discourage me from anything."

"Why?" Garfield asked.

"Because in the end, I did something right." Damian said. "Well, at least back when I didn't actually kill peoples. When you returned the daughter who got captured by terrorists to her parents, you cannot imagine how rewarding it is to see the face of their parents. They didn't have to thank you for it. They just need to be happy. Knowing Gotham City, I know that happiness is a hard thing to achieve, but I'm going to do everything that I can to get it."

"Whose life would you rather risk?" Kory asked. "As someone who had gone through wars and genocides, would you risk your own life to save a thousand, or risk the life of thousands to save yours?"

That really managed to shut them both up. Knowing about the alien threat that they were facing, they had to sacrifice something. However, shutting them up wasn't enough. They needed to be convinced. There was no other way to convince them other than showing them the real threat, and unfortunately there wasn't much of a real threat just right here. If Stephanie's boyfriend wasn't really going on around, then Gotham City is in danger.

"I... I don't know, dude." Garfield said. "Even if we could, I think we're going to need a lot more than this."

"We're the only ones that we got." Damian said. "We don't know how many aliens landed here. We don't know how many of them to beat. We don't even know how strong they are compared to our strength."

"The last time I checked, there were only a few Kryptonians left." Kory said. "We have killed at least four of Zod's men. That was about five Kryptonians left."

"Five?" Garfield said. "Well, at least it wasn't a hundred of them. Are you serious five?"

"I'm not sure if he can bring in backup from his home planet." Kory said. "I hope he didn't. Hundreds of them is hell raining upon us."

"If we're talking about numbers, I'm going to get Rachel to get here no matter what." Mia said. "This alien is going to kick our asses and she's staying in that freaking church? I mean are you kidding me?"

"There has to be a different way to convince her." Garfield said. "So when are we coming back to Gotham City?"

"We'll get back tomorrow." Damian said.

"I can get to her by then." Mia said.

"I'm not suggesting you to abduct her." Garfield said.

"I don't care." Mia said. "I'm doing it. If you stay in my way, I'll probably get you around too."

Garfield wasn't really the type to intimidate, but Mia's eyes were serious enough for him to not mess around.

"Urgh fine." Garfield said. "Do as you wish."

"Tomorrow, we're going back to Gotham City." Damian said. "The alien threat is right there. Stephanie and Tim are struggling to find them and their connections. Let's just hope that they come up with something by the time we arrive there."

##

ARGUS Agent Kate Spencer AKA Manhunter was sent into Turbain to brief in towards whatever kind of situation that is happening on that capital city. To think that the government was easily defeated by the extremist rebels was something that ARGUS did not expect, and it had to be something that needed to be investigated. What kind of allies that the rebels get that made them so incredibly powerful? At any rate, their attempts should be hopeless by now, and knowing that the rebels were only in small numbers, it was impossible for them to take the place out.

Before Kate could even approach the Capital city of Turbain Fascana, Kate was one of the first few peoples who noticed quite a hard anomaly. Somebody in the rooftop of that capital was literally hovering about ten feet above the building. She had absolutely no idea who this man is, but he could control himself and he could fly. However, after a few minutes hovering above the ground, he dropped off moments later. Was it a helicopter? Or was it just as what she found unbelievable.

Kate had no choice but to report her findings to ARGUS. This has got to be one of the most insane discoveries that she had ever found in the recent history.

 _"Any progress, Agent?"_ Waller asked.

"You would not believe me when I say it." Kate began. "But it seemed like that Turbain got access to... supernatural beings."

 _"Supernatural?"_ Waller asked. _"Be specific, agent."_

"Someone... flying."

 _"Flying?"_

"I'll send you the footages immediately."

##

Waller got herself watching the footage for a couple of times. No helicopters were on the scene. Absolutely no trickery or video manipulation. Kate Spencer would not have faked this evidence. The place had to be eradicated as much as possible, and there has to be nothing but dust in there despite the civilian risk. She definitely had to consult this to the president.

"Mr. President." Waller said. "I have given you documents about our alien captures."

 _"Another aliens again Mrs. Waller?"_ President said.

"I'm sure you are familiar with the Turbain crisis." Waller said. "The rebels had no weapons, no backups, manpower of less than 200 peoples, and yet they have managed to take on the capital."

 _"And how would your explanations come into aliens?"_ President asked.

"We have examined one of these aliens personally, Mr. President." Waller said. "This alien is called Kryptonian, and they have destroyed our lab in Washington. I'm sure you already know about it."

 _"I thought it was explosions."_

"No, Mr. President." Waller said. "You should see this footage."

It took a few minutes for the President to take a look at the footage that Kate sent to Waller and for the President to make decisions. His face slowly turned into astonishment.

 _"My god."_ President said. _"This is unbelievable."_

"These aliens are threatening." Waller said. "They have destroyed our labs, and they have proven to destroy peace in Turbain. We're going to need to take action.

 _"What are your suggestions?"_


	16. Define 'Drone'

_A/N: Much apologies for the lateness of this chapter. My roommate cousin got sick and had to bring him to hospital. Now I'm back but I completely forget to publish it. Instead got stuck watching Future Diary... :P_

 _Shout out to the guest reviewer reminding me of this. :)_

##

It was quite apparent that the whole military war thing was not something that they could handle. Damian sat there and watched the news of the upcoming rebellion and the probable plans of drone strikes towards Turbain. ARGUS had their hands on this and they were definitely not going to give up a town like that. It was quite the political advantage and a strategic manifest on the war on terror, and he had no idea how to stop that.

"So when are we going to put a stop on terrorism?" Garfield asked towards Damian as he watched the news on the rebels takeover in Turbain.

"I don't think we're capable of doing that." Damian said. "Turbain is... quite complicated. It's two sides of the same coin that are both unforgiveably bad. I'm not sure where to side on. You love history, right? Every single war that mankind has been subjected to aren't usually black and white."

"Yeah, that's why the Nazi hate goes on until today."

"There are exceptions of course." Damian said.

As he said those words, Damian's phone vibrated. He picked the said phone up and noticed that it was Speedy calling. Not sure what she was up to considering that she had spent the rest of the night stalking Rachel and finding out where she went.

"Speedy." Damian began. "Is there something wrong?"

 _"You know what, I take that back."_ Speedy said. _"I'm not going to abduct her."_

"Oh well." Garfield said. "What happened? Did she kick your ass?"

 _"There's a much better way to convince her to join our ranks."_

"What do you mean a better way?"

 _"I stalked her out of the church."_ Speedy said. _"She went out, bought some dinner, and went into a nearby hospital. In one of these hospitals, she went inside one of the rooms for a visit and the room looked pretty intense."_

"Oh, that makes things easier." Damian said. "So what are you suggesting?"

 _"Oh come on! Don't you get it?"_ Speedy said. _"We'll help her of course! We're going to pay up whatever kind of hospital bills that she has. We're just going to find it out."_

"And how are we best to approach it?"

 _"Send Garfield right here and pretend that he contracted flu or something."_ Speedy said.

"What?" Garfield said. "Hey, you're the one who was stalking her! I didn't even want to get her in the first place! Not that she wanted to anyway."

 _"Hey this is one opportunity to at least fix that goddamn mistake you made."_ Speedy said. _"You're going here, like it or not. Star City General Hospital. Big building with the red plus sign and SCGH. You won't miss it."_

"Were you on the rooftops on the other side of the building?" Garfield asked.

 _"Of course I am. Where else would I be?"_ Speedy said. _"Now are you coming in here or not?"_

##

Rachel took a seat right next on the hospital bed and tell in some stories that happened a few hours ago, including her encounter with Garfield.

"Something interesting happened last time, though." Rachel revealed towards her mother Arella.

"Oh?" Arella said. "What is?"

"I was at the church when some guy approached me." Rachel said. "He said that he knew about what I did at the museum, about stealing the artifacts thing."

"How did he know?"

"He said that he got some friends." Rachel said. "I have to admit, I didn't expect to meet Speedy back at the museum."

"Speedy? You have been dealing with some serious troubles, my dear." Arella asked. "And what about the other man?"

"He was trying to recruit me." Rachel said. "Said that he'll put my abilities to good use because aliens are coming into this Earth and invading it."

"That sounds ridiculous." Arella said. "But I'm surprised that he went through the trouble of finding you here."

"What do you think?" 

"I don't know." Arella said. "I've never seen him personally."

"Oh okay." Rachel said. "Mom, I..."

"Is there a problem?"

"I... I don't think I'm going to get a lot of money from doing this." Rachel said.

"That's fine." Arella said. "You've tried your best. I don't have a lot of time in this world anyway."

"Are you kidding me?" Rachel said. "You're 34! You still have a lot of time!"

"That's the cost of being young and wild." Arella said. "You take one wrong step and you deal with the wrong peoples."

"So that's how you get to dad?" Rachel said. "Okay mom, I have to admit you're as every bit as moronic as I am."

"Nah. You're smart enough to avoid boys in your age." Arella said. "Just be-"

Someone knocked on the door, which got both of their attentions.

"Who's that?" Arella said.

"Probably the doctors."

"The doctors?" Arella said. "Do they really have to knock?"

"I have a bad feeling about this." Rachel said. "I'll check it out."

Rachel went through the front door of the apartment. She opened the door and was completely bewildered on who was on the other side of the door. He just met him a few days ago, and he somehow managed to find her all the way into this hospital here. The blonde guy calling himself Garfield Logan AKA Beast Boy, no matter how dumbass his name is or incredibly inappropriate his actions are.

"Okay, I'm calling the police."

"Wait, wait!" Garfield said. "Okay okay. This might look creepy, but I didn't sneak you out."

Rachel went out of the room and closed the door. She obviously won't let anyone in after knowing that she got stalked in by the Beast Boy that is Garfield Logan.

"How the freak did you know that I'm in this room?" Rachel asked.

"Okay, I know this really looked creepy, but oh god." Garfield grabbed his head. "This is why Speedy asked me to come in here so that she didn't get yelled at."

"For god's sake." Rachel said. "I said no. I didn't want to listen to another reason especially when I realized that you're going to freaking stalk me out right here."

"I didn't stalk you!" Garfield said. "Speedy did. I said to her that you said no and you didn't want to. And yet she kept insisting on convincing you to join in the group. I'm really sorry about her. She's an asshole."

"So you're not an asshole, then?" Rachel crossed her arms. "Okay. Proof me that you're not an asshole."

"I knew you lied about not having a family."

"Okay I lied." Rachel said. "For a record, you're a nobody and I never wanted you to know about anything of me. And also for the record, I know when you lie too so don't play tricks on me."

"So if I'm going to ask a question, just don't lie okay?"

"If I see you stalking around even when you turn yourself into a mosquito, I'm going to squish you out." Rachel said. "Or maybe I should buy some anti-mosquito aerosols."

"It's not going to work."

"I'll choke you out!"

Rachel said those words in a slightly higher tone than she had before. Obviously, she couldn't really control her emotions. And her emotions were somehow connected with her magic, as her scream caused a little bit of a flicker on the lamps.

"Whoa." Garfield said. "Calm down."

"Did you seriously ask me to calm down after I know that you were stalking me?"

"Rae!?"

That was a horrible call. Arella called her from the back of the room and in an instant, Rachel called back.

"Yes, Mom!" Rachel said before sighing. "You'd better get out of here. You open this door and I'll pin you into a nearby wall."

"I... okay." Garfield gulped.

Rachel went back inside to greet Arella. She had her face worried, but Rachel was struggling to hide whatever kind of debacle that was outside.

"Is everything alright in there?" Arella asked.

"No! No! It's fine." Rachel said. "It's just that I meet someone really annoying."

"Well, I'm surprised that you meet _someone."_

"Mom..."

"So is this your mom?"

Garfield actually had the balls to went through the key hole as a mosquito or something and transformed back into a human. Rachel shrieked her lungs out, but Arella kept her bright smile in.

"I told you to stay in there!"

"You told me that I shouldn't open the door." Garfield said. "So I didn't and I just went in."

"Good Evening!" Arella said. "Please, sit down."

"Mom, you're not seriously going to treat him-"

"I'm just glad that you at least have someone to talk to other than me." Arella said.

"God, you make me sound so miserable." Rachel said.

"I'm sorry." Garfield scratched the back of his head.

 _"I'm going to kill you."_ Rachel whispered.

"What?" Arella asked.

"I'm... going to give him some seat." Rachel said. "You can sit right there."

##

Garfield explained pretty much everything that he told Rachel in the rooftop. Arella was just sitting in peacefully on her hospital bed listening to everything that Garfield proposed. Rachel however, crossed her arms looking incredibly unhappy.

"So you really understand our situation." Garfield said. "We're in short of superhumans, so I think your daughter is going to be a good candidate."

"How about you make one?" Rachel asked. "I don't come in here once in a while, nor am I designed to save humanity or something."

"That's a lie." Arella said. "You go out every night to heal peoples out in this hospital."

"Did she?" Garfield asked, eyes bulging out and looking really cute. "Wow! That's amazing! That's incredibly kind of you!"

"I uh..." Rachel blushed. "I... thanks, I guess."

"I honestly wonder why you lied about not caring anyone." Garfield asked.

"I'm just way too lazy to do whatever you wanted me to do, okay?" Rachel said. "I'd rather work on a church. It doesn't pay much."

"Well, nobody is paying you when the world blows up." Garfield said.

"He has a good point, you know?" Arella said. "I'm ordering you to come to him right now."

"Mom, you cannot be serious." Rachel said. "Are you seriously listening to this guy? He said that aliens are coming into Earth and about to blow the world up and you're going to believe him?"

"I know how to use our empathic powers, Rae." Arella said. "I find it surprising that he did not lie for every bit of word that he was saying."

"Empathic?" Garfield asked.

"Both of us are empaths." Rachel said. "We can feel the emotions of others, and that includes the nervousness when you lie. I honestly have no idea how you are able to lie and get through my magic. For the record, I can read animals too, and you're not exactly human."

"Okay, what's the worst case scenario?" Garfield asked.

"What?" Rachel asked.

"What's the worst case scenario when I lied?" Garfield asked. "I proved that I can turn into animals."

"You're not proving anything." Rachel asked. "What you prove is that you could be one of his apprentinces."

"His?"

"I think she was referring to her father." Arella said.

"Mom!?"

"For the record, he is your only friend." Arella said. "He should know."

Rachel cannot fight her mother, so she sighed and kept her mouth shut.

"What should I know?" Garfield asked.

"My daughter... her father is a demon." Arella said.

"Demon?"

"Literally a demon. You thought those things don't exist, right?" Rachel said. "The worst part? He doesn't have a contrast. We don't know if there is a heaven in this world, or that if there is someone who can beat him."

"Well, you can."

"It's easy for you to say." Rachel said. "That's why I said that this world is going to blow up anyway. Eventually, he's going to show up with his hellspawns and he'll enslave this world into his will. The world will get destroyed and nobody can save them. Nobody can save this world from him. He's going to destroy everything."

"Not if we stop him."

Rachel scoffed. "Animals are nothing to him. Peoples drenching himself with technology are nothing to him. You are nothing to him. In his eyes, you're just dusts waiting to be dusted off. How are you going to fight him?"

"We'll find a way."

"There is no way." Rachel said. "The world will end. There's no fighting it."

Garfield sharpened his eyes. His emotions were not as pleased as it was before. He was so nice and pleasant explaining things to Arella, but now after listening to Rachel talking, his eyes went cold and his face sour. It wasn't the kind of pessimistic face. It was more of an angry face, like a child who was disappointed that his toy wasn't a Christmas Present.

He then stood up from the chair, face completely away from both of them, and he put both of his hands on his pockets. Both Arella and Rachel glanced at him in curiosity, as Rachel's apparent pessimisms managed to get through his optimistic viewpoint.

"Then by that logic, you should've killed your mom right there."

Rachel stood up from her chair and was about to charge herself towards Garfield, but Arella stopped her by signaling her to not go any further. Garfield turned around towards both of them, not a smile sighted on his face.

"Seriously, you'd spare her the pain." Garfield said. "I mean the world's going to end anyway. Might as well end her right here. You'd going to make her suffer if you let her live."

"How dare you say that?" Rachel shouted.

"You said that this world is going to end and it's going to blow up anytime soon, and yet you visit your mom here everyday." Garfield said. "You implied that humans are going to die and they're not going to be useful anyway, and yet you healed the other patients."

Rachel sharpened her eyes.

"You said that the problems that you have in this world are not worth fixing, and yet here you are trying to find ways to pay your mother's hospital bills." Garfield said. "What does that say to you? Does that say that you're just being hypocritical so that I'm not around? Or is there something else that you're hiding? Don't get me wrong, I can be really annoying in a lot of times, but I bet it was the latter."

Rachel relaxed her position. Strangely enough, there was a smirk on Arella's face. Even though the man just literally said that she should've died, she ended up smirking for it.

"I don't know why you have to contradict yourself in your philosophy by the way you act." Garfield said. "If it's not for my annoying attitude, it has to be because you keep something else, but what is it I wonder? And then I realized it. It was all thanks to your loneliness that I figured out why."

"So why then?" Rachel asked.

"It's because you don't want anyone else to care for your problems."

Rachel widened her eyes. Arella's smile became a lot wider than it was before.

"I guess I understand that feeling." Garfield said. "I was in Elementary School when I got this rare disease called Sakutia. I didn't even want anyone to bother about me, but then I meet a few other friends. Damian, Olive, Kyle, Maps, they're all my best friends. If I didn't share my problems with them, I would probably be dead by now. It turns out that I make quite a powerful friend."

"He's right, Rae." Arella said. "So all this time, you were avoiding friends so that you don't want your issues to be their issues too?"

"I..." Rachel's eyes were pretty moist at that time.

"Hey, I'd say sometimes that's a pretty good thing to do." Garfield said. "But there is a time where we're going to need someone. Peoples are a lot kinder than you think. They're going to pay you back no matter what. I was in your position once, but I stepped out of it and I'm doing just fine right now. So what do you say? Are you coming in?"

Rachel bit her lips as she wiped her tears out. She really couldn't resist to get it out of her.

"And for the record, I'm sorry if I give the wrong impression of stalking you." Garfield said. "I didn't mean to, really. And um... how much is the surgery again?"

"It's..." Rachel answered. "It's $750k."

"Christ. That's a lot." Garfield said. "Well, after all of this is done, I'm going to help you to get the money."

"What?" Rachel said. "You... you will?"

"Just let him, dear." Arella said. "He offered a generous help, and he is surprisingly accurate on his observations about you. You should be following him."

"I..." Rachel sighed. "Surprisingly accurate is not a word I'd choose."


	17. Define 'Happening'

C17: Define 'Happening'

For some reason, Rachel had asked Garfield to meet him up in airport. Garfield was said to be waiting for her on the lobby alongside the other so-called heroes. Not sure who these peoples were or why they were called the real superheroes, but Garfield was sure convinced about it. He made a promise towards her, a very important promise, and she wanted him to remember that because it had something to do with her life as a whole.

She finally made it into the airport. Thankfully the Star City taxis weren't that expensive and it only took her at least $9 from her house into the actual airport. Not sure what kind of airplane that she's going to take a ride in or if it was actually safe, or especially if it was approved. She found Garfield amongst the crowd of the superheroes that he was referring to. The most noticeable of all was the relatively huge African-American man right behind him and the stunningly beautiful red-haired supermodel of some sort. Not sure what her powers are.

And of all people, the famous billionaire and entrepreneur Damian Wayne and on the other flip side of the coin, the infamous billionaire Mia Dearden Queen were also in there hanging around. She couldn't help but to find it impressive. Somehow, the annoying but fairly intelligent blonde-haired guy who can turn into any animals somehow got a connection to both of these peoples. And to see Damian Wayne up close like that...

"There she is!" Garfield said as she pointed out right towards her. "I'm so glad you came! And not a second late!"

"Yeah, because I've been told to check in two hours prior." Rachel said.

"Don't worry. I'll get your baggage." Garfield grabbed in her said baggage.

"So um... these are your friends?"

"It's a pleasure, Ms. Roth." Damian stepped in first, shaking Rachel's hands with a smile so stunning it would make the nearest fangirls nosebleed to death. "I'm so glad that Garfield could convince you to come."

"I... okay... uh... thanks..." Rachel blushed.

"It is joyful to finally meet another female companion!" Kory stepped in and shook her hands immediately. "I am looking forward for our next interactions!"

"It's... Rachel."

"My name is Caroline Anders! Although you can call me Kory! I'm pleased to see you!"

"Yeah, me too."

"So the ancient stone thief finally showed her face." Mia said, hands crossed in front of her. "You know, I would've preferred to just put a sleeping gas in your mother's room, but if that Jedi choke was right, then sending Garfield in was the best choice."

Rachel's face turned from an awkward smile into an uncomfortable scorn as she heard the words coming out of Mia's dirty mouth.

"So you're Speedy?" Rachel said. "I'm not up to fight with you."

Mia smirked. "You cheated on me using magic. I won't let that get away from you."

"And the other one is Victor Stone." Damian said. "He's new here too."

Rachel was about to shake Victor's hands, but all that she could feel was his bionic arms engrained in nothing but cold metal. She noticed this and was a bit startled at first.

"I... oh..." Rachel said. "Wow. I..."

"Yeah." Victor said. "It's a long story."

"In fact, all of us do have one." Damian said. "So let's not waste any time. We're going into the jet."

"A... jet?" Rachel asked.

##

She shouldn't have underestimated the power of Damian Wayne. He had his own private jet. _His own private jet._ She shouldn't have been doubting about it, especially knowing that this man was known to be gaining at least eleven billion dollars a month. Knowing that someone with that crazy amount of money should be beneficial for someone like Garfield Logan.

Sitting on the private jet alongside the other so-called superheroes was a rather puzzling experience. She wasn't even sure why some of the peoples that were inside the plane were called heroes. She was optimistic on some of their abilities like Garfield Logan with his animal turning abilities and Mia Queen with her bow and arrow gimmicks, but he wasn't so sure about Damian Wayne. What was his power? Money?

"This place is comforting." the so-called alien Kory said as she glanced over the windows. "It's been a while since I've seen a bright and peaceful blue sky directly."

"You've... never seen one before?"

"No, I haven't." Kory said. "I assume that you are not informed of my origins."

"I only know that you're an alien."

"That is correct." Kory said. "I'm an alien from another part of the galaxy."

"I find that hard to believe." Rachel said.

"I know it's hard to process, but believe me we exist out there." Kory said. "I'm an alien called Tamaranean. The other aliens are called Kryptoninans, they're dangerous. They have taken over my homeworld, and I won't let them to take yours."

"For an alien, you talk English very well." Rachel said. "You sound a bit too formal, but not that bad."

"Yes... well, I have to use a rather embarrassing method to learn your language." Kory said.

"Hm..." Rachel said. "I can somehow believe you. How did you learn the language?"

"I have to kiss someone."

"Oh." Rachel said.

"I'm astonished." Kory said. "You're the first person to not tease me at all."

Rachel giggled. "I can't imagine the amount of teasing that will occur by the time you said that."

Kory giggled. "Although to be fair, I think he deserved at least one. He had been taking good care of me ever since I come here."

"Let me guess..." Rachel said. "It's... Damian Wayne?"

"Yes."

"Wow, you're incredibly lucky." Rachel said. "A lot of girls in your age demand to be right near him."

"Really?" Kory said.

"For the record, Damian's not the kind of person who's going to hand kisses like that over."

"Ah well, he didn't hand me that." Kory said. "I have to force it out to him."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "I see."

"Kory, can I talk to Rachel for a moment?" Damian said as he popped up from another room, hopefully not hearing any of the conversation that they had.

"Uh... yes." Kory stood up from her chair right across Rachel.

Damian smiled towards Kory as she left the room, leaving him and Rachel alone at least in that particular table. She wasn't very sure what he was about to ask, but the one thing that she needed to do is to make sure that she kept it polite and civil. He maintained his respect throughout the journey, and she wanted nothing but to return the courtesy.

And he's ridiculously rich.

"Are you alright?" Damian asked.

"What? Yes, I'm fine." Rachel said. "Why? Is there a problem?"

"Nothing much." Damian said. "I think I owe you an apology."

"Apology?" Rachel said. "What kind of apology?"

"Well, Mia's methods might be a bit unusual for you to look at." Damian said. "She was the one who stalked you last time, not Garfield."

"Did Garfield ask you to tell me this?"

"Well, he was a bit afraid of confronting you after last night."

"I can't blame him." Rachel said. "He was right."

"About what?"

"I only cared for my problems." Rachel said. "And I don't want anyone else to fix it."

"Does this include your mother's health?"

"I..." Rachel startled. "Yeah."

"Garfield told me about her." Damian said. "In that kind of situation, you're definitely going to need someone's help, and thankfully I'm here."

"Wait." Rachel said. "Are you... are you going to... ?"

"I will pay for your mother's bills."

"What!?" Rachel shrieked. "But... that's $750k!"

Damian chuckled. "I know, but you know me. A money like that is something that I can make in a minute. You're going to need it a lot better than I am right now."

"I... I..."

"Your mother is going to need the surgery." Damian said. "No matter what happens, you should totally help her."

"Okay." Rachel slightly bowed. "I will! I... thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Don't thank me." Damian said. "Thank Garfield. He had this idea. And in some ways you also have to thank Mia. It's her idea too, you know?"

"I... of course!" Rachel said. "I will do my best."

"Great." Damian said. "But there's another thing that I want to tell you."

"Okay." Rachel said. "What is it?" 

"When I told Garfield and Victor that they're going to save this world, they were a bit shocked about the concept of death." Damian said. "This is a life-threatening situation, and I'm afraid that by joining our group, you're going to put your life at risk."

"I'll do anything to keep my mother alive." Rachel said. "I promise."

Damian smiled. "Well, I'm glad. I know that you're going to be useful. Anyway, the others are gathering right there. Why not introduce yourselves?"

"I..." Rachel said. "I'm not too good at socializing."

"Neither am I." Damian said. "Believe it or not, I wasn't socially adept back then, but you won't be one if you don't at least try."

"I... okay." Rachel said. "Thanks."

"Hey Damian!"

Garfield shouted from the group slightly further away from the jet.

"What is it?"

"You should check the news!" Garfield said. "Fascana just got bombed!"

"What!?"

Damian stood up from his chair and went in towards Garfield who watched the news from the common lounge room. Rachel followed him from the back. On the way, Rachel asked on what's going on with it.

"Fascana?" Rachel asked. "Wait, why would they do that? I thought the US already had advantage of it."

"I see that you're observant with the current news." Damian said. "I never thought that ARGUS is going to pull this off."

Damian and Rachel arrived at the group with Garfield leading in on the conversation.

"You think that ARGUS did it?" Garfield asked.

"The situation in Fascana is already a question mark." Damian said. "We're not even sure what ARGUS is planning."

"Um... sorry to interrupt." Julia asked. "But how is Fascana relevant?"

"ARGUS is pulling a lot of moves behind our back." Damian said. "Getting Tim Drake alive, creating armors, investigating aliens, and now drone-striking a capital city."

"Apparently these are not just regular bombs." Kory said. "It was put in with chemicals called a white phosphorous."

"White phosphorous?" Damian shouted. "Why would they need white phosphorous in there?"

"It's weird." Garfield said. "I don't know about you, but ARGUS would've been a lot more covert about this. If they go out in and just drone strikes Turbain with white phosphorous, then it would be chaos."

"As if they didn't create enough chaos already." Damian said. "We need to be prepared. I have a bad feeling about this."

##

The horror. He glanced at it once again. What he feared the most out of his military service finally came true once again. The peoples he was fighting for, the peoples that were rallying on his cause, were easily decimated by a simple airborne bomb. He thought that humans cannot be more savage than the Citadelians or even the Tamaraneans, but he thought wrong.

This bomb alone really came from a country of power. The only country who could unleash such monstrocity was the United States and no doubt about that. The United States had their hands on these predator drones for a while and they have been abusing it to instantly win a war that they have lost, to regain control to whatever things they deemed necessary for liberty and freedom without even considering the liberty and freedom of those being targeted.

In result, the monstrocity commited caused more than just explosions. The Capital City of Turbain was now riddled with a white gas that are incredibly lethal. The white gas was called white phosphorous and the civilians suggested everybody to avoid it at all cost, but they were too late. This gas has already engulfed half of the city, and there was nothing that the General could do to save the civilians. They have either burned themselves to death or their respiratory lungs broken thanks to inhaling the lethal materials.

Some of the Kryptonians actually found these drones and jumped high to destroy them, but all of them were unmanned. One thing for sure, the United States did this. The bombing wasn't really the problem for General Zod. It was the chemicals that got into the bombs. These bombs killed a lot more civilians than militias, peoples who actually should've died from the monstrocity commited, but the General witnessed more than just death. He witnessed pain, suffering, and torment unleashed upon the women and children of Turbain.

Zod was immune to this gas. The gas was nothing but a white flour to him, but he was completely unable to save the lives of these civilians who were vulnerable to it. As such, he had to witness some civilians flocking on the streets grabbing their burned face while having their entire hands burned out as well. Before they could relieve the pain again however, they also had to choke and cough up blood thanks to the gas entering their systems. And after that, they fell down to the ground, whimpering like a dead puppy begging someone to just please end their lives there already.

Even for someone as superpowered as him, it was one of the most horrifying ways to die. Not even the Tamarans could come up with this monstrocity.

Zod was unable to save the parts of the city that were engulfed in gas. So he went out of the city and ordered the rest of his men to regroup into the cave. There was something that needed to be done, and that was to completely eradicate the Western Civilization.


	18. Define 'Revelation'

In the name of the things that were bizarre, Stephanie Brown somehow attracted, or at least stunned one of the most powerful beings in this universe. Glancing at the records of what Conner Kent had done to ARGUS, she was quite impressed. It was just that she couldn't really find him anywhere else. All he did was getting really confused on things and somehow ended up in Gotham City was one of the perks on being alive, because he could end up finding her.

He was cute, and Stephanie was interested in him. Then her actual boyfriend came in and told her that the boy she was dating was an alien. That was unbelievable, but at the same time he was able to convince her that it was the case. She wasn't really sure what to do when she found him later on, but she was going to be ready nonetheless.

That morning, Stephanie was supposed to go into the dinner for another shift, but something came up on the door. The doorbell rang. It echoed all throughout her small apartment. She woke up from her bed and came into the door. That's where she saw him.

"Oh." Stephanie said. "Wow. I never thought you'd show up."

"Sorry." Conner scratched the back of his head. "I was away, and for whatever happened the last time we met."

"No, I'm supposed to say that." Stephanie said. "I kicked you out. It wasn't kind of me. I can be a bit emotional I guess."

"Well, I'm sorry if I did something to you."

"No! No! You didn't do anything. Don't worry." Stephanie said.

"Okay then." Conner said. "Um... do you mind if I ask something?"

"I think I know what you're going to ask." Stephanie said. "But you should come in. I'll be making some coffee or hot chocolate. You want some?"

"Uh... yeah sure." Conner said. "Thanks."

"Don't be." Stephanie said. "Just consider it a sorry statement."

##

"So uh..." Conner asked. "Who was that guy?"

"He's my boyfriend." Stephanie said.

"Boyfriend?" Conner said. "You mean the one that you said died?"

"Yeah." Stephanie said. "Turns out he wasn't so dead after all."

"How did he die?" 

"He got caught in an explosion." Stephanie said. "Turns out that the explosion didn't really kill him, but it just made him to look normal. Not sure if he went in completely unharmed or he did sustain some injuries but it didn't hurt his face. Other than a few scratches, he's doing fine."

"And... you're planning to come back to him?"

"Well, we did talk about that." Stephanie said. "Do you want to know what he said?"

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for it."

"Believe me, it's not that bad." Stephanie said. "He was pretty mad at first, but he was glad that at least I begin to move on. I mean it's been two years and I haven't been with anyone period. I'm all alone and I'm going to need someone."

"So I guess that you didn't want me."

"Well, I did." Stephanie said. "But now that Tim is there and he's still alive and doing well, I... I don't even know who to choose anymore. I don't know."

"Hey," Conner said. "Whatever choice you make, at least make ones that will make you happy."

"But I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Sometimes, if you want to be truly happy, you'll get to hurt someone." Conner said. "I... haven't been in relationships myself, but I guess that's how it works."

"Yeah, you're right." Stephanie said. "Which means that I have to choose either of you."

"Well, whatever you choose, I just want you to be happy." Conner said. "You've been really nice to me. You've... really shown me how it's like to be happy. Even if it hurts me, I respect your choice."

"In that case, you know exactly who I picked."

"And I'm not going to blame you for it." Conner said. "If you don't want us to be couples, then let's just be friends okay? I like having you as a friend."

"Then at least you're going to like my friends?"

"Well, maybe." Conner said. "Unless they're really annoying."

Stephanie giggled. "Don't worry. I have some annoying friends, but none that you really want to kill for. Anyway, I need to prepare myself. Eight o' clock is two hours and I'm going to need to do my shift."

"Of course." Conner said. "Is there anything that I can help you?"

"How about making us some toasts?" Stephanie said. "You can do it, right?"

Conner giggled. "You should never underestimate my toast-cooking skills."

"It's just putting two breads in a toaster, Conner. Don't boast it." Stephanie said. "I'm going to the shower now."

The doorbell rang once again. Stephanie went up off the sofa and into the door to open it. She opened the door and was a bit startled to see her actual boyfriend pop up in there.

"Hey." Tim said.

"You're early." Stephanie said. "I thought I told you to pick me up at 7."

"Yeah well, I'm rather worried about you." Tim said. "I really hope that your badass motorcycles can get fixed."

"This is really a bad time, or at least you'd think it'd be a bad time."

Tim just realized what Stephanie meant. He went in closer towards her to whisper in his words.

"Oh my god, is that him?"

"Don't worry." Stephanie said. "Just talk to him. He won't bite."

"Well, a conversation between exes are going to be a little awkward."

"No doubt." Stephanie said. "That's why I'll introduce you to him."

"What, no!"

Stephanie pulled Tim off of the door and greeted him to the alien monster and the ex-boyfriend Conner Kent. For the record, this was probably the most awkward of things in his entire life, but at least Stephanie promised him that he won't bite.

"Conner," Stephanie asked. "This is uh... my boyfriend Tim Drake. I want you to meet him."

"Stephanie..."

"Just greet him." Stephanie said. "I'll be taking a bath. Be nice, okay? Oh and don't forget the toast!"

Conner paused for a bit as Stephanie ordered him. After a brief glance towards Tim, he rose up from his seat and went into the kitchen and said a few permission.

"I uh..." Conner said. "I'm going to make some toast. Do you want some?"

"Yeah, that'd be great."

##

Hopefully the conversation didn't go as awkward as they expected, and that Stephanie's bizarre expectations were going to be filled with something a lot more productive than two testosterone fighting at each other. Even then, she'll knew who win. The two got together in the kitchen and made some toast for Stephanie as her daily breakfast. Tim got into the kitchen to make the drinks, nothing but a simple tea for the three.

"So um..." Tim said. "Where are you from?"

"Me?" Conner said. "I... I don't remember."

"Yeah, Stephanie told me about it." Tim said. "But I heard that Stephanie couldn't find out who you really are. It's like your identity is wiped out of this planet."

"I don't know anything about that." Conner said. "But what I know is that I've been through a serious war and... lots of peoples die. I killed some of those peoples."

"A war survivor with no identity." Tim said. "Man, I really do get why Stephanie digs you."

"Even then, I still don't know why." Conner said. "Where did she learn how to fight like that?"

"That alone is a mystery." Tim said. "She never told any of us about it."

"Us?"

"Ehm... me and her friends, I mean." Tim said. "The thing about her is that she loves to go through danger and take risks. She's a daredevil, and she can take care of herself no matter how big that danger is."

"That's... interesting." Conner said.

"Did she tell you anything about her past, at all?" Tim asked.

"No." Conner said. "She told me about her daughter."

"Ah yes." Tim said. "That's another issue entirely, but nothing else from her past?"

"Nothing too clear." Conner said. "She said that she went through war. What kind of war or what kind of peoples that she hurt weren't so clear to me."

"Well, that one is not wrong."

"I'm curious." Conner said. "Can you tell me what kind of war was that?"

"That's... not for me to tell." Tim said. "That's for her to decide, and someone else too."

"Who?"

"Her uh... little step-brother." Tim said. "I guess you can call him that."

"Yeah." Conner went out of the toaster and made a few toasts. "Well, let's get some breakfast then."

He took one toast out of the platter. It was a simple bread and butter with chocolate jelly. Nothing harmful can come out of it, although he would prefer if he could get a better drink than tea. To be fair, Tim was good at making tea so definitely a good contender. Conner sat right next to him to consume their breakfast, chocolate jelly and butter and a relaxing tea.

"So do you have anything to do in Gotham?" Tim asked. "Any work or... friends or... relatives?"

"No." Conner said. "I'm just... staying here. I don't know exactly why I'm here or how I got here."

"That's really weird." Tim said. "So what are you going to do after you meet her here?"

"Well, I'd be staying with her here if she lets me. If not, well, I'll probably get another place to live." Conner sipped his tea. "Mmm... this is good."

"Thanks." Tim said.

"Oh and I want to ask you something if you mind."

"What?"

"Do you remember about the meteor that falls down here in Gotham City?"

"Uh... yeah." Tim said. "What about it?"

"Is there anything weird about it?"

Tim scoffed. "It's a meteor that falls down into Gotham City. It happens every Monday, right?"

"That's not what I meant." Conner said. "Is there something particularly weird about it other than that?"

"Like... what?"

"Something... alien about it?"

Tim backed his head away before making a joke. "Wait, are you saying that you're from outer space?"

"I... yeah." Conner said. "Yeah. I'm from outer space. Definitely. What do you think?"

Tim giggled. "Yeah sure you are."

"No, I'm serious." Conner said. "I'm from outer space. I... I think I remember now. I'm... not from here. I'm not on this Earth. That's why I don't remember anything."

"Dude, I can't believe that Stephanie fell for you." Tim said. "You're so bad at lying."

"What?"

"She probably knows about you." Tim said. "In fact, she knew about it."

"Know about... what the..."

That's when Conner felt a little bit of a dizzy and knocked his own head down the table. He fell asleep. Couldn't believe that a highly concentrated sedative could work on a guy like him. Now it was up to Damian Wayne and his other superheroes to take charge in leading him.

"Tim..."

Stephanie said from the edge of the kitchen, looking rather curious about what just happened to Conner Kent.

"Don't worry." Tim said. "He just got from a really bad hangover."

"You're going to tell Damian about this?"

"Definitely." Tim picked his phone up for a call. "Never thought that sedatives worked on him. I told you he's vulnerable from the inside."

"Well, I don't think it's _this_ literally." Stephanie said. "Him wrecking that entire lab is freaking insane. Or you know what, you should've let me sleep with him again. He'll get himself to sleep."

"That'd be really bad for us."

"Wow. I never thought that you can be jealous of me." Stephanie said. "I gotta say I'm quite impressed."

"Just shut up." Tim said. "And get him around."

Tim get the phone on his ears as Damian's voice began to emerge from it.

"Hello, Damian?" Tim said. "I got your target."

 _"Good."_ Damian said. _"Mind if you bring him to the Wayne Manor?"_

"Well, how about getting one of your flying friends to get him from here?" Tim said. "I want to verify just in case."

 _"We're just landing."_ Damian said. _"I'll get Kory in there as soon as possible."_

##

Tied up. Dark room. Dark place. It was just as when that woman Amanda Waller got into him with all of her superb intellectual talents and firepower. Darkness could only cover his eyes, but it was a lot brighter than it was before. Then it clicked on him. It wasn't dark. It was blurry. He couldn't see a thing right in front of him, as if his eyes were being splashed with water. That grey blurry thing was nothing to worry about, but the pink and purple parts certainly were.

"I hope that you have a good morning sleep."

It seemed that he was discovered by none other than the princess herself. Princess Koriand'r stood right far from him. He just noticed that he was surrounded with darkness, and that the princess managed to corner him right into this place. Only a small portion of the area was illuminated. Only the princess knew about it because of her bright green vision that she could turn on at any time. He could see it in her eyes. Her desire to kill was engrained in her, but somehow there was a bit of a restraint as she walked herself into him.

"Y... you..." Conner said. "The... princess."

"You're right." Koriand'r said. "There's nothing more you can do now."

"What... what happened?"

"You just happened to get knocked out in the middle of the streets, and I find you there." Koriand'r said. "We're going to have a lot to talk about."

"Wait! Wait!"

Koriand'r began her first torture, hitting him with a fist into his left side of the face. Somehow, a man like him could bleed, a man so powerful not even the bullets could hurt him, and now he's bleeding from a punch to the face.

"But first," Koriand'r said. "You're going to suffer every single pain that I have suffered."

Conner groaned, grabbing his face bloodied. "Please, don't do this! It won't do you anything."

"It will bring me relief to what you have done.' Koriand'r said. "And it would bring me relief to what you have done to me. I believed in you, and you betrayed me like that."

"Look Princess Koriand'r," Conner said. "Please don't do this. You won't get any result from it. I'm not on their side anymore."

Koriand'r scoffed. "To think that I would be convinced of such lies."

"I'm not lying." Conner said. "Back then in Tamaran, I'm against you. But now, just let me proof to you that I'm on your side."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"Do you know who leaked the information to the Tamaraneans that caused your escape?"

The princess had her hands crossed with her face full of anger. She smirked on the thought that someone like him would cause a significant backing.

"Was it you?"


	19. Define 'Truth'

In the bat-cave, this was one of the best places to get information out of criminals: a room only illuminated by one light source surrounded with darkness. Both Conner and Kory couldn't see what was beyond other than the lights that were illuminated on both of them. Damian and the rest of the team observed their actions through a mirror, which was actually a see-through glass.

"Are you sure that you're going to let Kory do this?" Stephanie asked. "Especially with her vendetta thing, you know?"

"I don't need information." Damian said. "I only need confirmation."

"By beating the living crap out of him." Tim crossed his hands. "I doubt that this is going to get along. How are we going to know if he's telling the truth or not?"

"I can observe." Damian said. "Like for example, I can observe his shoes."

"His shoes?" Stephanie asked. "Oh this is where you're doing the 'observe, don't see' thing?"

"Let me do it." Tim said. "His shoes were filled with sands for some reason, and this sand definitely didn't came from Gotham's nonexistent beach, not that Gotham wanted to be engrained with beaches anyway."

"So you're saying that he just travelled in from the deserts?" Stephanie asked.

"Yes." Damian said. "That kind of sand could be found in tropical biomes, particularly a land with deserts around it."

"And this theory might came off as a stretch." Tim said. "But do you think that the invasion of Turbain was assisted by the aliens?"

"Only one way to find out." Damian said.

"How can you come into that conclusion?" Stephanie said.

"It's really strange that the inferior men and inferior firepowers of the Turbain rebels were able to take Fascana in less than eight minutes." Damian said. "This was for the record one of the shortest capital city takeover in the last decade. And why would ARGUS take drone strikes of white phosphorous bombs towards the capital full of civilians?"

"You somehow make the answer 'Because they're aliens in it' sounds incredibly plausible." Stephanie said. "Damn. This world is crazy sometimes."

"It's crazy enough that two aliens from different planets actually get to be here right in front of us." Damian said. "Now the problem is if Conner is going to tell lies or truths."

"Have you told Kory where the aliens actually are?" Tim asked.

"I told her about it, but I said it was just my observation." Damian said. "The only way to find out the truth is if we hear it directly from Conner himself."

"Right." Tim said. "So we're going to have to wait."

"Or maybe not so much." Stephanie turned around to the rest of the heroes. "Does any of you here have any powers to detect lies?"

##

Kory punched Conner in the face as he woke up, proclaiming more about her pain and the times at Tamaran. Rachel didn't know what was going on between the two, but it sure as hell felt personal. Her empathic abilities managed to determine their emotions, and what would they do to make sure that it's going to be done.

"It seems that the Princess had a personal affiliation with Conner." Rachel said. "And Conner returns that feeling greatly."

"Wait, he has feelings for her?" Stephanie said.

"And the feeling is genuine." Rachel said. "He really wants to help her. He has no intentions of hurting her at all."

"How do you know about that?" Damian asked.

"The intentions of hurting someone can only be felt with anger." Rachel said. "And yet I didn't feel anger from him. I feel compassion and good intentions."

"So he's not a bad guy?" Stephanie said.

The dialogue excerpt continued inside at the point where Conner said his defense.

 _"Look Princess Koriand'r,"_ Conner said. _"Please don't do this. You won't get any result from it. I'm not on their side anymore."_

"He's telling the truth." Rachel said.

The dialogue inside continued:

 _"Do you know who leaked the information to the Tamaraneans that caused your escape?"_ Conner said.

The princess had her hands crossed with her face full of anger. She smirked on the thought that someone like him would cause a significant backing.

 _"Was it you?_

 _"Yes. It was me."_ Conner said. _"I leaked the information so that you can flee safely and I can get out of that planet. Honestly, I'm tired of having a war with you or with anyone period, even if you have commited some serious atrocities."_

 _"What?"_ Kory said. _"I didn't! How dare you suggest that!"_

 _"Yes you did. We both have."_ Conner said. _"You have no idea the amout of Citadelians that you kill without mercy. You have no idea how many Kryptonians died thanks to your power."_

 _"The Citadelians have interrupted our peace for centuries long!"_

 _"The Citadelians are your own peoples!"_ Conner said. _"They are the peoples that you banish out of Tamaran without a single thought, just because their ideas conflict with your utopian society. You banish Tamaraneans out into the Citadels for no good reason other than that. It was like if the Citadel is a prison to you, even though it was just outside of your hometown Tamaran at the same planet that you're staying."_

 _"Our Utopian Society shall be Utopian had you didn't interrupt our peace."_

 _"Your Utopian Society was built in the basis of the innocent lives you banish into the Citadels"_ Conner said. _"The Citadelians, they were wild and crazy sure. It was all because of your people. You stripped them out of the resources and you forced them to become feral. You take the resources of this planet and claim it for your own. You never even share any food. Do you think that your Utopian Society can last long the more peoples you banish in there?"_

 _"They were banished because they break the laws."_

 _"No. They were banished because they think wrong."_ Conner said. _"This is why your sister was banished into the Citadelians. She thinks that freedom and liberty is more important than control. I'd say congratulations for making a city like that to be peaceful, but maybe because the lies that peoples tell to what happens beyond the great wall, especially how you consider your own species to be another one entirely just because they didn't stay in your place."_

Rachel widened her eyes throughout that entire conversation. "Wow."

"What wow?" Stephanie asked.

"Conner was telling the truth." Rachel said. "And it seemed like Kory was in huge denial."

##

"I honestly have no idea why you treated me peacefully." Conner said. "When I grow up in the Citadels, I knew nothing but war. I knew nothing but to survive, and to kill anyone who tries to kill. It's a wild world out there, but it's the one that grows me into what I am right now."

"It was a mistake bringing you in there." Kory said. "It was a mistake kidnapping you and the other Kryptonians."

"It wasn't." Conner said. "In truth, you helped me. You still couldn't convince me that what the Tamaraneans have done are not wrong, but you've shown me what it's like to be peaceful. You convinced me that I can live in a place without a war, and I have enjoyed that time greatly with you."

"Then why me?"

"Because I really like you." Conner said. "All that time we had in Tamaran, I've never met someone like you. I've always been alone throughout my times and I've always been fighting, but I'm tired of it. You showed me what it's like when I'm not fighting, when I don't have to be constantly on my watch for peoples trying to kill me. Tamaran is a utopian society no doubt, but it was built through the sacrifices of unnecessary lives. I condemn your methods, but I don't condemn the results."

Conner really had to bring that speech up to her. He knew that this was the worst ways of gaining her trust, but he had to bring that point up even if it costed his own life. She meant too much to him, and he believed that he could change her.

"We have one unifying ideology that makes us to be what we are. That ideology is peace." Kory said. "If someone goes against it, then that unity is broken, and therefore breaking the peace. When there's no peace, there's violence."

"And even the slight change of that idea will brand you to be insane, just like what happened to your sister." Conner said. "And I know what you're going to say. You're going to say that your sister is a traitor and someone who opposes the ideology, even though I met her personally and believe it or not, she stil loves you. She doesn't want to bring hurt to you at all. She said that you were so innocent and that you have the potential to change who you really are."

"If my sister loved me, she wouldn't have betrayed her own peoples." Kory said. "She would've stayed with me."

"Why should she do that?" Conner asked. "She realized what your father has done towards the other Tamaraneans that were banished into the Citadel. You know what she did out there? She vowed to change your minds. She asked me not to do it."

"Komand'r is a traitor."

"Did your father say that to you?" Conner said. "Princess Koriand'r, I know that you're a good person. I don't want to let these bad ideas to define who you are, and I don't want you to defend the bad peoples who hold these destructive ideas, even if it means your own family."

Kory seemed to have cooled herself off when he said that. The level of denial that was engrained in her was too much. She needed to be snapped out of it, and he knew that it's going to cost his own life in the process.

"If you want to kill me out of revenge, that's fine." Conner said. "But just so you know, I lost good peoples from the Citadels too, some of whom are my great friends. I lost them to you. You slaughtered them too without mercy. I forgive you for that, mainly because we're just pawns to a bigger enemy."

The princess apparently didn't listen to what Conner offered and just focused on the killing part. She took her starbolts out of her hands and she prepared it so that it could heat up on his face and burn him to death. Conner kneeled on his knees, preparing to accept his fate.

That is until...

##

Raven popped up, grabbing Kory from right behind her shoulder. She knew that the conversation would go on to violence, but at least some information came out of it, irrelevant information but still information. She had no choice but to take the step in as the interrogator to make sure that the conversation was on point.

"Stop." Raven said. "Whatever you're going to do, it's not going to benefit us."

"Let go of me!" Kory yanked her hands off of her and glanced towards an emotionless Raven. "You have no idea what he has done to deserve this."

"Robin was right." Raven said. "He would only open his mouth when he encountered you, but your emotional state would've taken the better of you eventually. He was worried that you wouldn't extract any relevant information out of him, and he was right."

"What are you talking about?" Kory asked.

"Let me ask the questions, the relevant ones." Raven said. "You can go for your own personal vendetta later, but we have an alien invasion to be concerned about. Isn't that right, Conner Kent?"

"Uh.. yeah." Conner said. "I'll tell you about the invasion, or at least the preparation for it."

"The preparation?" Raven asked. "What do you mean about it?"

"To be truthful, we didn't prepare any sorts of invasion for this planet." Conner said.

"He's lying!" Kory said. "I know when he's lying."

"No, he didn't." Raven said.

"How can you defend him so easily?" Kory asked. "You barely knew him! You have no positions to judge this."

"And yet throughout the last few conversations, I find that Conner was telling the truth the entire time." Raven said. "And you were in denial of something. How about you explain that to me?"

"In denial of what?"

"It's better if I test you on something." Raven said. "Give me a statement, any statement, like something that happens in your planet or your birth place or the capital of your city, but deliberately make it right or wrong. I will tell you if it's right or wrong."

"Why?"

"So that you can believe what I say." Raven said. "Start with your birthplace. Again, you have the choice to make it right or wrong."

"Alright." Kory said. "My birthplace is in Palamar."

"False."

Kory widened her eyes. "Palamar is where I lost my friend."

"True."

"Myand'r is my brother's name."

"False."

"Myand'r is my _father's_ name."

"True."

Again, Kory widened her eyes. "How did you know that?"

"I am an empath." Raven said. "I read on people's emotions. I know when they're telling the truth or not. I know when they're lying or not. I know when they're in denial of something or not. I can tell people's true emotions that are deep inside. The point is that's not important. What's important is where is Conner Kent's army really is."

"I..." Conner began. "The Kryptonian army resides in Turbain, specifically Fascana."

Both Raven and Kory glanced at Conner, realizing exactly what he meant about and the recent news that fell on to it. 

"That can't be." Raven said. "Are you serious?"

"Are you talking about the city that just got bombed with what you call 'white phosphorous'?" Kory asked.

"Bombed?" Conner said. "You mean-"

 _"Guys."_ Robin said through the PA. _"Meet me at the meeting room. I think we're done for now."_

"Meeting room?" Conner said. "Where... where are we?"

##

The bright lights were turned off and the rest of the cave was illuminated. It turned out that Conner was in the really bottom part of the so-called Bat-Cave. Apparently the strange deformable human Garfield Logan was able to gather up superheroes to the point of having even Princess Koriand'r on the team. He had to admit he was impressive.

Conner walked up the stairs into the so-called meeting room, basically an oval table where the heroes could gather up strategies. Garfield himself was standing in among the other superheroes, and he cheered up the moment he caught glance at Conner himself.

"Hey!" Garfield said. "I got it all! I got it for you!"

Conner giggled. "You did a great job. Wait... what?"

He was flabbergasted the moment he saw both Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown among the group. Stephanie was wearing what appeared to be a purple bulletproof armor with some sort of a yellow 'bat' symbol on her chest and a cape on her back. Tim Drake was wearing another armor, black with a touch of red here and there especially the the head of an Eagle on his chest, also a cape on his back. They were both smiling the moment they caught glance on Conner Kent.

"You're..." Conner said. "You're in this, Stephanie?"

"Used to." Stephanie said. "I quit a long time ago. Too many peoples are taking up the Batgirl mantle. The real one doesn't seem to appear all that much."

"And so is... Tim?"

"Yeah." Tim said. "Sorry I poisoned you with that sedative. Never thought that's going to work." 

"And I never thought that you're going to condemn your own race."

Another superhero said, also equipped with a complete body armor set but instead of black, his costume was dark green with some yellow touches on his cape and the 'R' insignia crafted on the upper left corner.

"You're... Robin." Conner said.

"Yes, I'm Robin." Damian said. "But I'm also Damian Wayne, the billionaire entrepreneur. You sure have heard about me."

"Stephanie talked a lot about you."

Damian glanced at Stephanie with sharp eyes. Stephanie could only crack a little smile.

"What?" Stephanie said. "You're so interesting to talk about _and_ you're one of my sources of income."

"Regardless." Damian said. "I'm impressed that you're turning against them. Why do you want to do that?"

"Because if I come with them, I got nothing but war." Conner said. "I had nightmares, constant nightmares about the peoples that I've killed. And I wanted to end it. Thanks to Stephanie, my nightmares are lessened, and I had lived in a world where I never encountered any war. I owe her so much."

"Yeah you're welcome." Stephanie said. "Although no offense, but you're not exactly good in bed."

Conner blushed really hard. Kory had a perplexed or puzzled face in her with eyes wider than a golf ball, Rachel raised her eyebrows. Damian stayed emotionless although slightly annoyed. Garfield had his mouth open. Mia grinned. And finally Tim promptly slapped Stephanie on the back of her shoulder.

"Oww!" Stephanie groaned. "That hurts!"

"So are you going to fight with us?" Tim asked to Conner.

"If it means protecting Stephanie and this world, then yes." Conner said. "I'll do my best."

"You know, you shouldn't have put your entire motive on me, you know?" Stephanie said. "I mean am I really that good of a girl?"

"That's what I thought before I dated you, remember?" Tim said.

"Oh right. Even the second smartest man in the entire world fell to me."

"Wait, who's the first?" Tim asked.

"That's enough, you two." Mia said. "We got an alien invasion coming right here."

"Julia, feed me in the details." Damian said. "We're going to war."

##

 _A/N: After this chapter, there's going to be a four/five/six part finale on S01. I'm going to divert my fan-fictions into this one and this one only to prefect the ending._


	20. The 2022 Alien Invasion (Part 1)

Julia popped up as a hologram in the round table, showing off the details to the respective members.

 _"I've hacked in to the ARGUS database to find out that ARGUS is responsible for the drone strikes in Turbain."_ Julia said. _"They're also responsible for the deaths of several innocent civilians, but it seems like there are some who survived."_

"I'm sorry, but can you tell me what the effects of these white phosphorous are?" Conner asked.

 _"They burn the human skin."_ Julia said. _"When inhaled, they will burn you out internally. It's the most painful death that you can ever think of."_

"I... don't know what the effect the white phosphorous had with Kryptonians." Conner said. "Any survivors?"

 _"We're not sure about survivors."_ Julia said. _"Although there are reports of the drones being attacked by what they reported as 'floating humans'."_

"Then they're alive." Conner said. "It's to no effect."

"How many Kryptonians are there?" Damian asked.

"Only five." Conner said. "Zod, Ursa, Krol, Jax, and I."

"So that means we're still going to get the upper hand!" Garfield said.

"Not necessarily." Conner said. "The numbers are low, but they're incredibly dangerous. We acquired powers that are beyond human capabilities."

Conner then received a phone call. He answered the call and recognized the voice on the other side.

 _"Conner?"_ Ursa asked. _"Have you gotten the Princess?"_

"I got her." Conner said. "Where are you?"

 _"I'm following you off into Gotham."_ Ursa said. _"It seems like you were making some friends here on Earth."_

"Well, not for long." Conner said. "Meet me in Bristol where the meteorite crashed. I'll tell you where the Princess is."

 _"I'll be right there, then."_

Conner closed the phone off and told Robin about who just called him.

"That's Ursa." Conner said. "She's one of the Kryptonian Generals."

"I know her." Kory said. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her that I got you." Conner said. "I told her that we're going to meet where you landed your escape pod."

"Do you have a plan?" Damian asked.

"Yeah." Conner said. "We're going to bait her. And by the time we do, we're going to... we're going to kill her."

"You seem hesitant." Kory said.

"How can I not?" Conner asked. "She's been like my mother throughout my time, but I couldn't lie when all she does is to help my father, and trying her hardest to win a war that shouldn't have been won."

"Then let me kill her." Kory said. "I'm going to end her right there."

"Just... make it quick." Conner said. "This world is not going to safe as long as she's in there."

"Alright." Damian said. "That means we're going off into battle. Where are you going to bait her?"

"Somewhere away out of town." Conner said. "I want to minimize destruction as much as possible. A battle between them is going to be tough, and they need to be as far away from civilization as possible."

"The... Bristol Park." Stephanie said. "Seems wide enough to me, and the only risk that I can think of is the highway and Wayne Manor."

"The Highway is too much risk." Tim said. "Let's move it all the way North. The Burton Park is fairly empty and wide enough if you want to duke it out. Just try to guide them as far away as possible."

"Alright." Damian said. "Unfortunately the only peoples who have actual proper combat skills here are Tim, Stephanie, Conner, Kory, Mia, and I. Tim and Stephanie can be dismissed because I don't have another battle armor."

"So you don't need our help?" Stephanie said.

"Yeah!" Garfield said. "What's the point of having them here, then?"

"We're going into the supportive." Tim said. "Damian has his robotic suit and he'll duke it out with the aliens. Conner and Kory were at war with each other so they got experience. And Mia..."

"I'll be on the supportive." Mia said. "Well, I have something to fight the aliens off, but-"

"What?" Garfield said. "But I want to duke the aliens out!"

"Oh great." Mia said. "Next time I'll duke a burning arrow up your suicidal throat."

"I second her opinions." Rachel said.

Garfield bit his lips and struggled to say a word.

"This is your first mission and while I appreciate that you come in here, letting you to duke these alien without proper tactics is going to get all of you killed." Damian said. "You're all superpowered beings, but this is too early for you to unleash your superpowers to be in the offensive. Until I know what you're capable of, I won't let you be in that position."

"How are you to judge?" Garfield said. "I know my powers more than you are."

"Damian is right." Conner said. "The last thing we need to do is to be stubborn and take the offense just because it's a badass thing to do."

"Gar, if I were you, I'd be shutting my mouth up and listen what Damian has to say." Stephanie said. "He's been in this vigilante business for more than seven years. When he tells you to back off, he means it."

"Right." Damian said. "Now I'm going to tell you just this once: Let peoples who are genuinely experienced in combat and are capable of handling aliens handle this. The fight that we're going to have with the Kryptonians are going to cause a significant damage to others including inexperienced peoples like you, which is why I'm putting you all in a safer role."

"What's that?" Rachel asked.

"Civilians." Damian said. "Civilians are going to be at stake around the battle and there's no doubt that this battle is going to cause a lot of damage. I want all of you to check on every single damage that we caused and save every single civilian's life that are at stake."

"So we're the medic?" Garfield said.

"Technically speaking, but it won't be easy." Damian said. "If you have civilians trapped in a building, you're going to need an immense strength to carry them out of there which is where Garfield, Rachel, Victor, and Mia come in to be useful."

"Wait," Mia said. "You're putting me on the supporting? I don't have the same amount of strength as Garfield or Victor here and I certainly can't do magic mumbo jumbo."

"Then do whatever you can." Damian said. "If they find you, you're not safe down there."

"Alright then." Mia said. "I'll do whatever I can to help."

"Now we know our roles, we're going to need a narrative." Damian said. "Conner, since you know our enemies more than we are, I'll leave this up to you."

"Fine." Conner said. "But I'm definitely going to need someone to refine my plans."

"Don't worry. We're here." Damian said. "Just tell us how you're going to play this out."

##

Conner had a simple narrative in his mind. The first phase of the plan was to bring a tied up Kory Anders into the Burton Park. The night time helped this setting a lot.

"So uh... Princess," Conner asked.

"Don't talk." Kory said. "We're doing your plans because Robin says that you can be trusted. I trust him, but I can't trust you."

"I'm sorry, Princess." Conner said. "I shouldn't have confronted you about the Citadelians."

"No."

Conner sharpened his eyes. "What?"

"Rachel was right." Kory said. "I was in denial. I was just... trying to protect my father. I don't care if he have bad ideas. He took care of me since I was a child. I would feel guilty on not returning the favor."

"Kory, he's your father. Of course he's going to treat you well." Conner said. "If your father is proven to have been committing several atrocities, are you just going to let it go? My father comes into this place and instead of letting go past mistakes, he continues on his war. The war completely escalates now that the government stroke down Fascana. My father will not stop on his Turbain conquest. He's going to go to America and attack the government. He's going to put everybody under his control, and by the time that happens, a lot of peoples are going to die."

"I agree with you on that one." Kory said. "It doesn't make you a good person."

"I never said that I am." Conner said. "But I know that you are, at least I know that you are inside."

"How would you know that?" Kory said.

"Because... I love you, Kory."

Kory widened her eyes. She would never believe the rhetoric that Conner expressed. It was going to be lies, but Conner tried his hardest to convince her. However, he had to express it in the most baffling of ways, even though she had done it multiple times before.

Conner grabbed in her chin, lifting it up to glance at her. The moon shined bright today in the middle of the Burton Park. The Princess glanced up towards Conner and paused as she glanced at him. Strangely enough, he was emotionless and pale, but instead of looking cold, he looked... vulnerable. How could he look so weak? How could he look so vulnerable right in front of her? Why would he let himself to be just like that? Why would he glance at her in that way?

That's where Conner went in closer to her face and kissed her. Strangely enough, she wasn't avoiding it. As he went in closer, she closed her eyes and followed in. For the record, she had never kissed her own race, but kissing a Kryptonian already had her heart racing in every second. Conner circled his hands on Kory's waist and pulled her even closer. Kory circled her hands on his back, also pulling him even closer towards her.

They pulled off of that kiss, but instead of glancing at each other and realizing what they have done for each other, they continued pushing in, only in a different angle and direction. They were convinced that they had to taste each other's lips from all side. The Tamaran had that magic kiss that could learn many language. Now he understood the magic. He could feel it.

Conner didn't even realize that he was pinning her down the tree. Despite of that, she grabbed in the back of his neck and pulled him closer. She _enjoyed_ it. If he didn't really like him, why would she like that kiss?

That's when Conner pulled back. That's when he confronted her about him.

"You were enjoying it." Conner said.

"What's the matter about it?" Kory asked. "That doesn't mean that I like you."

"Kory, we used to be like this." Conner said. "I just... wanted us to be like this for the rest of our life."

"I don't think I can do that." Kory said. "I hate you, Conner. This entire thing between us is one-sided, even if I used to have feelings for you."

"And yet you returned my kiss."

Kory scoffed. "Perhaps I'm more inclined for sexual pleasure than commitment."

 _"Uh... I didn't mean to interrupt,"_ Robin said. _"But we're going to need to hurry."_

"Right." Conner said. "Sorry about that."

"No you're not." Kory said. "No you're not."

##

The Kryptonian had to tie her up into a tree. This was to create the narrative that Conner successfully captured the Tamaran Princess, even though something like this was definitely beyond his control. If only in a short notice, he could get a few minutes and do whatever it takes to do.

Princess Koriand'r was knocked unconscious. In reality, she was merely pretending to sleep. Conner was waiting right near her, crossing his hands and waiting for Ursa to finally come. All he could do right now was to wait for Ursa and glance at the Princess's beautiful face as she slept.

In a few moments later, Ursa finally showed her face out. She didn't jump up and down or fly herself away. She was wearing a medium-sized armor just like last time, but she kept her head exposed for the sake of appearance.

"I didn't expect you to use armor." Conner said.

"I find it unbelievable that you're able to capture her without even the needs of armor." Ursa said. "And I find it unbelievable that you're able to tie her up into a tree unconscious."

"Yes." Conner said.

Ursa focused her attention on Conner. On her back was the Princess and on her front was Conner. She couldn't see what she's doing on the back, and rightfully so. The narrative is working and Ursa was slowly buying it. All that it needed was for Conner to distract her momentarily as Robin in the back release the ties.

"If you mind me asking, why this place?" Ursa said.

"It's conspicuous for me to tie someone up." Conner said. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well." Ursa said. "I should as you that question."

"I'm doing just fine." Conner said.

"If I have to ask, are you serious about your offer to stay here?" Ursa said. 

"I'm serious." Conner said. "If going back to him means another war, then I'm going to stay here, no matter what father says to me."

"Well," Ursa said, "if that's the case, then-"

That's when the Princess broke free from the tree and choked her. Ursa tried to struggle, but it was proven that Princess Koriand'r from Tamaran was a million times stronger than her. If the choking wasn't enough, Koriand'r did something more painful, something that caused her to scream beyond the forests.

Koriand'r used some of her starbolts energy and directed it at her finger. She touched Ursa's face with her fingers and let the energy to burn on her skin. Unlike her usual starbolts, this shade of green was a lot darker. It was a more lethal version of her light starbolt that could only cause concussion damage. This one just burned right through.

Since Ursa couldn't handle the pain of the burn, Koriand'r proceed to cover her entire face with her dark green starbolt energy, slowly burning her face. She kicked her bottom knee to make her kneel. In an instant, she made another dark green starbolt on her other hand and that's where she delivered her finishing move.

She grabbed Ursa's head with both hands while one hand had a very strong starbolt energy. The joining of both hands caused Ursa's head to internally explode between it. Conner glanced away as the explosion happened as she practically decapitated her. Blood spread all on her face despite that mini explosion, and Koriand'r have never looked menacing on that.

Despite Ursa being a part of his family, Conner could only stare at her in awe. Koriand'r was glancing at the remaining of what's left of Ursa. Her face was blank, cold, and expressionless. Quite ironic. He was declared as the murderer who murdered her friends, but the Princess herself was not prone on murdering someone as easily as that.

"Ko..." Conner said. "Princess..."

"We should go."

Robin popped up right on Conner's back, asking him to leave whatever kind of damage that she had done. On the other side, there was Mia Queen, who tapped Kory on the shoulder and brought her to leave as well. Mia had seen a lot worse about this kind of death and destruction, and so was Damian.

Although there was a little hint of surprise on Damian's part.


	21. The 2022 Alien Invasion (Part 2)

_A/N: Two Chapters in One Week? What?_

 _As it turns out, this is a four part finale. That's right. FOUR part finale. I have finished it and all I need to do is to upload all the remaining finale up until the final release date which is Sunday. Stay tuned!_

##

They all gathered back in the bat cave. As everybody prepared for their proper suits and armors, Kory and Conner were still on the planning table. They were glancing at the Gotham City map alongside news articles on what's going on in Turbain. Perhaps they could find some form of answer through this monstrosity.

"I can't believe that Earthlings were just as bad as Kryptonians." Kory said. "To think that they're going to take an action like this is incomprehensible."

"Are you seriously not going to address something?" Conner said.

"Address what?"

"You just... blow someone's head off with your hands." Conner said. "I expect you to at least feel disturbed."

"Disturbed?" Kory snorted. "I'm not disturbed of such things, especially considering that your kind has done so much worse."

"Well, I can't argue with that." Conner said. "But to see you just do it without any traces of guilt. And then that face. I've never seen you that cold before."

"You should see Robin and Speedy." Kory said. "They approached us from the back and the first thing that Robin said is telling you to leave it as it is. What does that tell you?"

"That Robin is a lot more brutal than you are?"

"No. It's something that you shouldn't be bothered with." Kory said. "If someone like him couldn't be bothered with it, I believe that you could too."

Conner scoffed. "I think Robin is just about as psychotic as you are, maybe perhaps even more."

"Someone is willing to take a lot more risk than a Kryptonian who can destroy building in a few punches." Kory said. "If that shows you something is that you're still pathetic."

"I always am." Conner said. "But don't even think that you're better than me, because I wouldn't break someone's neck at first sight."

"Anyone up for some milkshake?"

That was the time when Garfield showed up with two cheap mini market milkshake cups. Conner knew one of these the moment he glanced it. However, when he tried to get some of those milkshakes, Kory approached Garfield with a shrieking joy, almost completely ignoring the serious conversation that they had last time.

"Oh yes! I'd love some!" Kory said with a grin and her eyes closed. "Is this original vanilla?"

"Yeah well, Damian says that you like that one." Garfield said. "And Conner, Stephanie says you like chocolate more. So I'll buy you one."

"Uh... yeah. Thanks." Conner said, taking the milkshake.

"I'm curious, Conner." Kory said. "How come Stephanie knew what kind of milkshake you like?"

"Well uh," Conner blushed, "we had a... thing. Don't be jealous."

"Wait, so you two were like... dating?" Garfield said. "I... guess I can see how."

"What do you know about dating, Garfield?" Kory said. "I'd rather blow someone's brains out that date this man."

"Well, you just literally did." Conner said.

"Yeah... wait what?" Garfield said. "She... did?"

"Yeah about that." Conner said. "Our last mission ends up with Kory grabbing someone's head and using her starbolts to blow it up. There was a lot of blood in her clothing last time."

"Oh... so that's why you changed your armor." Garfield said. "Wait a second, so she literally _did_ blow someone's brains out?"

"I'm actually quite curious on something." Kory said. "How can you make this so tasty?"

Again, completely pretending like it never happened. Perhaps the Utopian Tamaranean wasn't too Utopian after all.

##

The entire bat team including Robin, Stephanie, and Tim plus Mia and Julia gathered up in front of the bat computer and attempted to find out more of the Kryptonians. If this was the search for more metahumans, Stephanie was getting rather bored.

"Any news?" Tim asked.

"No, not a single one of them." Damian said. "That's really strange. Fascana just got blown off by ARGUS themselves without the President's permission nonetheless and nobody noticed it?"

"They wouldn't do it unless if they have the interstellar aliens as an excuse for it." Stephanie said. "Besides, it's ARGUS. It's government funded. The President doesn't really have to watch every single one of their actions, right?"

"He won't," Damian said, "but he'll definitely think twice about bombing out an entire capital without permission."

"Or maybe they _did_ get his permission and the President decided to just shut up about it." Mia said. "Whatever ARGUS is doing, it's always shady as hell."

"Shady is putting it lightly." Julia said. "You know, by an action like that, they should've jumped their ass off of that ruined city and all the way straight to DC."

"Which is exactly what they're doing."

Damian said as he pointed out a news report from Metropolis of an explosion inside a building. Just a few moments later, a news report pops up about a 'superhuman' going into the Capitol Building as a congressional hearing was interrupted from what looks like a terrorist attack, but in reality it was superhumans attacking the crevice.

 _"A terrorist attack has occurred inside the Capitol Building. The terrorists are currently unidentified, but we have received a live footage directly from the hearing."_

##

The news report cut into what undoubtedly foreign-looking dark heavy armor akin to that of a Kryptonian as Kory had seen it. The face in front of the camera was undoubtedly General Zod. There was no hiding something like that. Zod had the tendency to go through the main building of the world's most influential government and made his threat.

 _"So this is what you can offer to us, America?"_ Zod began his words. _"This is the strength of your military? You are pathetic weaklings who cannot fathom the strength of your own military. You are creatures who were ignorant of your own and are willing to drop white phosphorous on a peaceful city in need of help."_

Kory couldn't do anything but shut her mouth at that moment. Zod was too intimidating of a person to be. Conner on the other hand formed a hard fist and grit his teeth when he caught the presence of his father.

 _"Your government is built on a weak structure and weak military."_ Zod said. _"Nobody can stop us from rising. Nobody. America and their peoples will fall. Prepare yourselves."_

"Guys."

Damian - or more accurately robot Robin - appeared right on the meeting room. He had his robotic costume ready and told the two aliens to be prepared.

"We're going on board the chopper." Robin said. His voice turned a lot more robotic. "There's no time to lose. The fate of the world is in our hands right now."

"Right." Kory said. "We should hurry."

Both Robin and Kory rushed to the hangar area in the bat cave where they went inside the chopper. In the hangar, they finally noticed what he meant about chopper. This chopper was a rather large military-class helicopter enough to hold in a lot of peoples inside. Not sure why Damian would have one of these on his bat cave.

The other superheroes caught on their back. All of them were surprised on the glance of what Damian referred to as a chopper.

"Um..." Conner said.

"That's... pretty big." Rachel said.

"So who's going to pilot it?" Garfield asked.

"I will." Mia said. "I guess support means transport in this case."

"How are you going to plan this, Robin?" Kory asked.

"We'll talk plans in the chopper later." Damian said. "I know what to do."

##

It was strange that someone like the President would allow such invasions like this without a security. What were they thinking? This was a hearing to the world's most influential peoples and yet the security was about as pathetic as a Kryptonian Council meeting at busy work.

"This is pathetic." General Zod said. "Is this Earth's biggest defense force?"

General Zod said those words among the politicians who were scared to their death about the concept of death. The hearing room was large with a huge podium in the middle. The bodyguards of each respective politicians were already slaughtered in an unfair fight between humans and superhumans. The worst part? There were three of these, and guards cannot harm them.

"Please," one man said. "let us out of here!"

"And how does that benefit me?" Zod said. "How is that going to help me in any way?"

"Father!"

That's when the unexpected appear. Conner arrived on the entrance of the conference room with nothing but a black T-shirt and that stupid hair.

"Kon?!" Zod said. "How can you get in here?"

"I was met with little resistance on the back of the room." Conner said. "What are you doing here, dad? I told you. The last thing you need is a war with another kind."

"Are you seriously going against me right now?" Zod asked. "You're not going to go this far unless if you have some personal attachment to these weak Earthlings. It's a lot more likely that you are so."

"If I say yes, so what?" Conner said. "These 'weak Earthlings' have done so much more to me than to anyone else."

"They bombed a city full of innocent peoples without hesitation!" Zod said. "And you tell me that these peoples treat you just as good?"

Conner scoffed. "Do you always see the world like that, father? Do you think that you can create a world where there's no conflict?"

"There would be no conflict in this world if you had stopped me." Zod said. "Kon, if you're going to stand against me, then so be it. I won't stop you. But if you stand in my way, I will make sure that your death is short."

"No wonder why he said that you're not his father."

Another surprise. Princess Koriand'r AKA Starfire walked into the congress room again. The other two Kryptonians already caught her eyes. They didn't jump because Zod signaled them not to, but Starfire walked in casually.

"Princess." Zod said. "I should've known that you've managed to take down Ursa."

"If you know what's good for you General, you should spare these innocent lives." Starfire said. "These lives meant nothing to you. These lives did nothing to you."

"Nothing?" Zod said. "How can you say that easily when these peoples bomb a town without a single shed of doubt?"

"And who should be the one to tell that it's right or wrong? You?" Starfire said. "You've invaded the peace of my land twice just because you think to yourself that you're in the moral high ground. I won't let you do the same mistake again, even if it means to kill you."

Zod grit his teeth and launched himself towards Starfire in a powerful and high enough jump, but Conner was right there to interrupt him and crash him down into another room. One of his men, Krol, got distracted by Conner making that action, which caused Starfire to flew in, grab him by his head, and threw him into the stage.

Another surprise came from the fully robotic Robin suit who launched himself towards the last Kryptonian Jax. He managed to land a very powerful punch towards him, one that is able to knock him further into the back destroying all manners of walls, floors, and everything on his way. Robin stabilized his landing and turned his back to the congressmen who got trapped among the chairs. 

"Everybody run! Go back!" Robin shouted.

"Follow me!"

That's when Mia Queen AKA Speedy came in from the entrance and shouted her lungs out to tell the rest of the congressmen and hostage to get out of the place. Robin gave a nod as a signal for her to continue her job, and Mia redirected the rest of the hostage away from the area.

"Titans," Robin said. "How about the hostages?"

 _"Don't worry!"_ Garfield Logan AKA Beast Boy said. _"We got the hostages out!"_

 _"We still have some peoples stuck in the south wing."_ Raven said. _"Try to bring them away from there as far as possible."_

"Got it." Robin said. "Offensive Team, bring the enemies away from the south."

##

"I got it." Conner said.

"You were..." Zod said, struggling to wake up from the last attack. "You were working with them?!"

"Of course." Conner said. "If the only way to save humanity is to take you down, then I'm going to do whatever it takes to get you out of here."

"You bastard!"

Zod launched himself once again towards Conner. Conner couldn't get control over Zod because the enhanced strength of his heavy armor. The first thing that he needed to do is to destroy it.

Zod got Conner pinned down the floor. He repeatedly punched him on the face, but little did Zod realize that his armor core was exposed. Conner punched his way into the armor core on the center of his chest, completely shocking both of them with electricity. He pulled the said core out of the armor and kicked Zod to the back, hitting another wall in front of him right up above the door.

Conner dropped the core into the ground and stomped it, completely destroying it from going into Zod's armor ever again.

"If we're going to deal with this father," Conner said. "You wouldn't cower on the protection of your armor. So let's do this fairly, and whoever wins gets to do whatever they want."

Zod gave Conner a smirk and a small giggle. He pushed a button on his armor to release it out of the way, but it wouldn't budge. So instead he forced the armor to be out. What was left was just a standard Kryptonian jumpsuit used for under armor, all with Zod's insignia no less.

"You have grown." Zod said. "I'm going to accept your offer. Let's finish this."


	22. The 2022 Alien Invasion (Part 3)

Beast Boy finally arrived on the South Wing where Raven said that there were still civilians left. She was right. He could smell human beings around the room. There were children being trapped inside a closet. Garfield wasn't so sure why they were staying there, but he was sure that they were trapped.

He managed to get into the front door and he could understand. Ceiling debris blocked the only way to get out and trapped them right inside. He could hear that they were waiting for help.

 _Children? Looks like a school tour has gone completely wrong._

Garfield could lift the multiple debris out, but he needed to do it from the inside. He transformed into a mosquito, went through the multiple debris, and got inside. That's when he transformed back into a human form, startling pretty much everybody inside.

"That was tight." Beast Boy said.

That's when the adults screamed their lungs out, but the kids widened their eyes and mouths on the sight of someone actually coming in and out and appearing out of the ether.

"Who are you?!" a really scared woman tour guide said.

"Don't worry." Beast Boy said. "You can call me Beast Boy. I'm going to get you out of here. Stay back!"

Beast Boy transformed into a giant gorilla. After he transformed, he grabbed the debris blocking the door and pushed it away. Beast Boy didn't look at how the civilians were scared to death by him transforming into a gorilla and instead focused on getting them out of the area.

The debris was finally cleared up and the way to get out was open. The children downright cheered towards Beast Boy transformed back into his human form and turned back into the civilians.

"Phew. Now you can get away safely." Beast Boy said. "Come on! Let's get out of-"

Beast Boy just noticed the same scared female tour guide had her tazer out and shaking her legs.

"Uh... you can drop that one, lady." Beast Boy said.

"Cool!" one boy stood out by saying it.

"Thanks!" Beast Boy gave the boy a thumbs up. "Now come on! Let's get out of here before the aliens come back!"

Beast Boy redirected his gaze to the tour guide.

"You," Beast Boy said. "Just direct the kids out. I'll be finding others."

The tour guide stopped shaking her legs and went pass Beast Boy, still a bit nervous from the whole situation but managed to regain her composure to get the kids out.

"Right," Beast Boy said. "Guys, do you have any more civilians?"

 _"Nope. I guess we got them all out."_ Raven said.

"Do you think that Robin and the rest are going to need our help?" Garfield asked.

 _"I hope not."_ Raven said. _"Otherwise, we're going to have to deal with those crazy aliens ourselves. They're the only ones who are good at fighting these things."_

"Right." Garfield said. "Hey, be careful out there okay?"

 _"I would've said the same thing to you."_

##

All that Robin needed to do was to make sure that the Kryptonian that he fought was completely far away from the Capitol Building and out of the civilian reach. That's exactly what he did. However, he couldn't control the powers of a Kryptonian. He was forced to confront the Kryptonian and bring him into the West.

They both ended up in a rather convenient place: The Lincoln Memorial.

In the Lincoln Memorial, they both landed on the reflective pool. Thankfully Robin's entire armor was made waterproof just in case a battle like that could end up in water. He could get a rather beneficial advantage with him in the water like this including knocking out the Kryptonian if he had to. All he needed to do was to knock him down the floor just once.

"Status report." Robin said. "I'm in the Lincoln Memorial to the East. I guess we destroyed a couple of buildings on the confrontation. Make sure nobody gets hurt or trapped on the way here."

The Kryptonian was far away and charged towards Robin, but Robin dodged it immediately into the right. That's when he controlled his jet pack back to slam the Kryptonian into the water of the fountain area. Robin controlled his jetpack back and all he needed to do was to shoot a highly electric bomb to shock him out of existence and hopefully burning him to death.

Robin shot a shock grenade into the water. Not so shockingly, the water turned into small sparks of electricity. The Kryptonian was charged in with thousands and thousands of volts running throughout his entire body. As he screamed his lungs out in pain, Robin witnessed the slow burning of his body thanks to the armor malfunction and the shock grenade.

The Kryptonian finally gave up and succumbed into his death by electrocution. Robin scanned on the vitals of the said Kryptonian and thankfully, there was no trace of heartbeat left. That shock was too powerful for a Kryptonian like that especially when he wore that Kryptonian armor, which was enhanced with external power that consumed a lot of electricity.

##

Starfire could only redirect the Kryptonian into the North, and so was Conner apparently. However, unlike Conner, Starfire was able to knock out the Kryptonian with her starbolts and destroyed his armor. This was when she landed and walked into the Kryptonian.

"I will give you a chance of mercy." Starfire said. "You have committed the worst atrocity in the Tamaran history and now you have assisted another atrocity for another planet. I shall see that you will be severely punished."

"You don't have the guts." the Kryptonian said.

"Don't challenge her, Krol!" Zod said, clutching and struggling to make his way to him. "Stay away from her!"

"Too late."

Starfire created her dark starbolt. It was enough to burn a Kryptonian let alone a human. Starfire threw her starbolt right into his armor, which caused it to malfunction and caused a significant burn damage to it. She later grabbed his head with both of his hands. His scream has gotten a lot more apparent thanks to her hands burning every bit of his head.

A few minutes later, the scream went silent. A small explosion occurred right near her. She wasn't harmed, but the Kryptonian certainly was.

"Noooo!"

Zod shouted as Kory blasted the Kryptonian's head with her bare hands. He stood himself up from the ruined wreckage and launched himself towards Starfire, but Conner grabbed him to restrain him from his rage.

"Father!" Conner said. "You're not going to-"

That's when Zod turned his laser eye on and attempted to blast Kory with said laser eye. Kory however was fast enough to block said laser vision. However, that caused quite the massive explosion, enough to propel her miles away and knock her out.

"Kory!"

Conner was about to shout even more, but Zod flipped him over from his grab and dropped him on the ground. He faced him once again, but this time Zod was about to crush him.

"I cannot believe that you would concern yourself to the life of your enemy." Zod said. "And I cannot believe that I would be betrayed by my own son."

"You got what's coming, father." Conner said. "I've asked you to stop all of this and you didn't comply. I've given you a chance, but I have no choice."

"Then you have no choice but death when you face me."

Conner didn't widen his eyes on those words. He understood the consequences of going through the entire thing and all he wanted was to make sure that the Earth was safe for the peoples. He closed his eyes for a minute and accepted his face.

"So be it." Conner said. "But just so you know, father. You'll be all alone in this universe. Nobody is going to remember you. Nobody is going to honor you. Me? I've made my friends, peoples who know me as a person who can do good, something that you cannot take hints at."

"Then I will make your death slow." Zod crouched and grabbed Conner's neck. "I will make sure that your 'friends' receive the worst death imaginable before I can finally come into you and torture you for the ungrateful imbecile child that you are. There will be a time in which you will regret trying to face me-"

They both listened to the clicks of assault rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers provided by the military who finally came into the scene. Both Zod and Conner witnessed the military aiming guns at their behalf, and most of them came from the South, but additional troops came from other directions as well. Zod dropped Conner away, focusing on getting the humans first, but someone else came into the mix.

Robot Robin finally arrived using his jetpack from above the sky. He landed just right in front of Zod and threatened him using his robot suit's sonic blaster.

"Zod," Robin said. "We finally meet."

"Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am." Robin said. "What matters is who I represent. I represent humanity."

Zod scoffed. "Then to hell with your species. You're too happy on killing each other without a second thought."

"Nobody ever said that we are." Robin said. "We're not the kind of species who are prone on killing others. There are monsters among us, some of whom have the authority to do whatever they want, but so are yours."

"Tell that to the peoples of Fascana." Zod said. "You carpet bombed us with acid and leave innocent peoples die."

"I understand your anger," Robin said. "But our species has been in war with each other for years. That's what makes us to be what we are the same way your species were. We're not so different. We were both in a conflict where not one side was right."

"Not one side?" Zod asked. "I've seen children died, on your hands."

Robin navel-gazed on it. "True."

"And I've seen thousands more suffer in a slow death before they succumb into their fate." Zod said. "If you think that's the right thing to do, then your species deserves punishment."

"That's true." Robin said. "Our species deserves more punishment for all the crimes that we have committed into others and to ourselves. But we don't need a punishment from a self-righteous moral guardian who thinks that he's above all morality."

"What do _you_ know about morality?"

"You know that you're only proving my point by asking me that?" Robin said. "I don't know what's right or wrong. I don't get to decide what's right or wrong. What I do know is that you're about to commit a genocide for our race and we as a species have the natural instincts to protect our own regardless of what we do to ourselves and to others."

It was surprising that Zod didn't laser him to death by this point, but Conner let Robin to complete his speech.

"The reason why Starfire and Conner come to oppose you is because we have shown them what it's like to be human at our best." Robin said. "We're caring, compassionate, willing to risk our lives to protect others and even other species. We're willing to protect you if you're willing to protect us."

"That's a lie." Zod said. "And you're going to tell me that's a lie!"

"If that's true, then can you explain why I haven't stepped in to kill you?" Robin asked. "If you think that humanity protecting their own is wrong, that's your problem to deal with, not ours. And if that means that we have to kill every single one of you, then so be it."

Zod froze still in place. Robin stayed still as well. However, in a moment's notice, Zod crouched himself down on his knees, kneeling and navel-gazing on himself.

"Are you going to kill me?" Zod said. "Are you going to kill me the same way you killed my men?"

"No." Robin said. "If you're willing to be like Conner and Starfire, I'll spare you. If you're going to continue this genocide, then we're going to defend ourselves with Conner and Starfire helping us."

"Defend yourselves." Zod scoffed. "You can make excuses to anything, don't you? Fine then. So be it."

Zod charged himself towards Robin, but that's when Conner intervened. He used his laser sight and blasted the back of Zod's head. Robin could only stand there on his failure on convincing the alien, and what's left of him was a fatally burned nervous system right on his back. After the damage, Zod kneeled to him, and finally succumbed into his death and dropped into the ground.

Conner couldn't see what was behind Robin's face. The one thing that he was certain was that he was quite disappointed. He cannot blame him though. This was exactly the kind of situation that mandated this entire thing to happen. Zod was too much of a soldier to let his past lives go. There was no way this could go in peace.

"Robin..." Conner said. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Robin said. "You did what you had to do."

"Starfire?"

"She's alive." Robin said. "And she's safe."

Conner sighed. "Thank god. Thank god this is all over."

 _"Robin."_ Cyborg called from the transmission. _"We've extracted all the civilians around. We have a few injuries, but not a lot of deaths."_

 _"And for the record, try to be careful when causing a mess to the Lincoln Memorial."_ Beast Boy said. _"Raven and I had to clean a lot of mess up to find anyone injured."_

"Sorry about that." Robin said. "I'm just glad that this thing's over. Let's get back to the cave."

"Freeze!"

Oh yes. The soldiers were still there.


	23. The 2022 Alien Invasion (Part 4)

C23: The 2022 Alien Invasion (part 4)

"Stay in your place or we'll shoot." one lone leader of the group Captain said. "You're going to-"

"If you know what's good for you Captain, you'll let us go." Robin said. "Don't worry, we're only in for emergencies like this. Titans, time to go home."

Robin used his jet pack and Conner jumped in really high up the sky. Their launch gave the military no time to shoot them all, but they were already too high above the sky. The mission was complete, and all that was left was briefing... and a lot of catching up

##

 _Last Night on April 15 2022, America is horrified to learn about the threat of a terrorist attack from a superhuman in the middle of the Capitol Building. This said superhuman is capable of super strength, flight, and invulnerability. This alien has invaded the remains of Fascana and has slaughtered everybody inside the building. However, the President's counter-measure to defeat the alien by_

 _"We cannot take any more further measures than this. This is our best shot against the aliens, and they make their world not so secret for us. This alien has destroyed the lives of innocent peoples. When I say that I'm not going to be hesitant on picking my decisions, I mean it."_

 _The alien threat has thankfully been dealt with thanks to the presence of other superpowered teenagers saving hostages that were trapped on the Capitol Building last night. The Chief of Police had this to say on the matter._

 _"We don't know where these teenagers are coming from. We don't know who they are and what they're doing. But one thing we know is that I see them save lives, and for that reason alone they get my credit."_

 _Others who were in the scene have another opinion like Captain Joshby from the US Army._

 _"These teenagers who called themselves the 'Titans' are cold-blooded murderers. I've seen one of them grab one of these aliens and blow their head off with only her hands. Yeah, it's a her. You should be very careful on the ladies."_

 _Despite the terrorism threat, there are several injuries but none too serious and no deaths. It's all thanks to the team effort of the US Army, the Washington Police Department, and the mysterious teenager group simply known as 'The Titans'._

##

Watching that news, the Titans surely got their roaring victory as they managed to finish their first mission. Admittedly their mission was quite the dangerous one, but it was a huge relief as they all celebrated on the couch of the Bat Cave.

"Whoo!" Garfield said. "Don't mess up with the Teen Titans, bitch! We rock!"

"Yeah, rock." Rachel said. "The President still lies on Fascana. He's entirely responsible for innocent peoples who died and he pinned the blame on aliens mass-murdering the entire thing."

"Well, that's a truth that will be leaked sooner or later." Damian said. "And even then, don't expect the President to get expelled."

"Your government is very violent." Kory said.

"Said a girl who blows someone's head off with her bare hands." Mia said.

"Hey, I did that out of necessity!" Kory said. "If I were-"

"I'm joking. I'm joking." Mia said. "You just need to be aware of the hypocrisy."

"Okay seriously, did she actually blow someone's head off?" Victor asked.

"Well, a Kryptonian's head off." Damian said. "The Kryptonians made their choice to invade us, so they're going to suffer the consequences."

"Yeah, but blowing their heads off?" Victor said. "Jeez. Talk about overkill."

"I should probably throw you in the middle of Tamaran if you thought that was brutal." Kory said.

"Okay okay Star, I get your point." Victor said.

"Alright guys." Damian said. "I suppose we're in for a celebration. That's why I'm going to present to you the good stuff. Now since all of you here are around the age of seventeen, I'm going to give you something special."

Damian snapped his finger. That's when Julia came into the living room of the bat cave with what appears to be an old and very sophisticated wine.

"This, my fellow teenage friends, is a 1979 Le Pin Pomerol, one of the best wines in the business cost about $2463 on average." Damian said. "We're all going to take a shot."

"Wine?" Garfield said. "You want us to drink wine?"

"Of course." Damian said.

"You're well aware that all of us are under 21?" Rachel said.

"Does that ever stop others?" Damian gave a smirk, with Rachel scoffing in reply. "Relax. It's just this once. I only save this moment when the whole bat team reached a glorious victory on a mission. After all of this, you may all come back to your respective lives and know that you have saved the world. Would you agree?"

"Yes!" Kory said in a rather cheerful tone. "An alcoholic beverage is a proper way of celebration for all ages!"

"This is not going to end well." Victor said. "Pray for your head, folks."

"It's a chance of a lifetime." Damian said. "When you do finally turn 21, try not to ask more of these."

Julia served the wine to all the shot glasses. All the members grabbed said shots, but Damian went on ahead to give in his aspirations.

"So, do you have anything to say before you take a shot?" Damian said. "Anything meaningful to say or dramatic?"

"Well," Kory began. "I wanted to say thank you to all of you for giving me a chance to live a normal life. Honestly, all I wanted was just a break from the war. Like Conner said, you showed me that it's possible, and you showed me how valuable it is to defend our own and to preserve the lives of ours."

"Where's Conner anyway?" Garfield asked.

"He has some unfinished business to deal with in Turbain." Damian said. "He needs some time alone after all of these. Tim and Stephanie went back to their normal lives and the rest, well, us."

"Right." Kory said.

"And I gotta say," Victor said. "I never thought that I wouldn't be appreciated on my lives with all of this thing on my body, you know? But saving those peoples? It gives me purpose. It shows me that I can be someone better. You guys showed me that I can be better."

"We can all be better than who we are." Damian said. "We just need to find out how can we."

"Well," Mia said. "I don't have much to say other than we're all a bunch of weirdoes coming from different backgrounds with different powers and abilities, and I love you all for that."

"I'm... with Mia on that." Rachel said. "Actually, I think I need to say more. I'm... so thankful that we're all here together and we can save peoples, but there's going to be a time in which we'll be needed again, maybe a bigger threat in the sky like aliens or undeads or demons from hell."

"In that time," Damian said. "We're going to go back again, as a team. No matter what happens, our job here is to protect humanity from whatever kind of monsters that are going to take them down."

"Agreed." Garfield said. "Oh and I like the team's name: Titans. It's a pretty cool name."

"Yeah, but we're not exactly Hercules age old." Rachel said.

"Right." Garfield said. "So... _Teen_ Titans."

"Teen Titans." Damian said. "Anything else before we toast?"

Pretty much everybody respond with a shrug or a simple 'nothing'.

"Right, so I'll let in." Damian said. "Rachel is right. There will be a time when we'll be needed in the future. As such, we're going to do anything that we can no matter what to protect humanity as much as we can as we're the only ones who can do it."

"Well, us and the government but nobody trust them." Rachel said.

"Right." Damian said. "To Teen Titans."

"To Teen Titans."

Everybody followed in and bumped their shot glasses unto each other before taking a shot to the delicious drink.

"Oh god." Garfield said. "That was so strong."

"Ridiculously so." Rachel said. "I sense a strong power of lust in this."

"Well, it's wine." Mia said. "So don't worry about it."

"Oh that reminds me of something." Garfield said. "Victor, how did you actually take a dump?"

"You really don't want to know."

 _THE END_


	24. END THOUGHTS

EXTRA: AUTHOR'S OPINIONS

Right, so for those of you who have finished this series, thank you so much for following and favoriting. The follows and favorites help a lot to encourage writing more of these and I cannot thank you all enough. I appreciate the reviews and the encouragement from you guys. However, the reviews that I got were not as in-depth or thoughtful as I thought. So I'm just going to put in my own thoughts of the entire series as a whole here.

So Define Hero is a ridiculously clichéd title of a fanfiction of the whole Teen Titans. The fic starts off with an audio log by none other than Princess Koriand'r AKA Starfire who got stranded on Earth thanks to her broken spaceship. She meets up with Damian Wayne AKA Robin who after a brief awkward moment of being kissed by an alien out of nowhere, provides her with shelter and protection after quite a reasonable dialogue.

However, there's an even bigger conflict on hand. Her planet was invaded by Kryptonians lead by General Zod, and maybe so Planet Earth. Can Robin assemble the Teen Titans group on time and fight General Zod once and for all?

This is actually my second attempt on making a Teen Titans fanfiction. The first one being Out of the Box which unfortunately was canned in the last few chapters in the same fashion as Young Justice (thankfully having nothing to do with selling toys and instead having to do with running out of ideas). Despite what a lot of peoples say about the fic, I personally didn't like it but it has quite the charm including great character chemistry, lots of buildup, and... tons of sex jokes.

Huh. I didn't even realize that I make that much.

One reviewer said that it's different from your typical YJ fic which is nice. And then one say that it was slightly confusing which is actually understandable because I actually put in some research on real life possibilities of intergalactic space travels, FTL fuels, time travel paradoxes, multiverse theories, and apply it for that fanfic.

Yeah, Doctor, it's timey whimey wibbly-wobbly stuff. I get it.

To be honest, doing this research thing was pretty amazing. I get to know a lot of very interesting things and I can at least apply some degree of realness that would make a nearby physician go "Ah, I get what he's saying!" There's a scene in which the group talks to Ted Kord AKA Blue Beetle 2nd of how time travel and universe travel works. I actually love how that scene was executed. I mean it has tons of explaining, but goddamn it was interesting to read.

Oh I'm talking about OOTB now. Let's talk about Define Hero in my own perspective. So what do _I_ as the author think about Define Hero?

 **Is it good?**

Eh... no.

 **Is it better than OOTB?**

In some ways, yeah.

 **After re-reading it again, did I regret writing it or did I actually enjoy it?**

Surprisingly, I enjoyed re-reading it again, and I didn't regret writing it a single bit.

I was planning this to be the first season of an epic series, but it's a rather confusing start. I didn't plan it out as well as I thought it would be and things that pop up in my head just got dumped into Microsoft Word (by the way, as a quick typer, 2013/2016 Word can go screw itself).

The lack of action in this entire fic is probably what's going to kill my dreams of being a writer in DC or CN. The Titans fighting the actual aliens only happen in the end of the fic and even then, only three of them actually fight the said aliens. I have incredibly underpowered the Kryptonians in this fic and they die about as easy as squatting a mosquito. And then pretty much how the second half of the fic was spent on STAR Labs researching alien stuff and recruiting the Titans. Yeah, that's amazing.

See, the recent screw ups of CN executives and the absence of good TT story that is accessible to mainstream audiences is what drives this entire fic. I thought YJ (even in S01) had too many action and too less time to get to know the characters. It's understandable considering the _humongous_ cast. How about this brilliant idea? What if we take out some of the characters instead of piling them all up together in a huge mess, save them to be introduced for later seasons and focus on just the characters that need the focus? You get to work on more seasons and you get to work on more money!

Oh yeah right. CN wants to sell toys instead of telling good stories. Yeah, I get it now. Where's my huge middle finger when I need it?

And this is where this fic comes in. No, I'm not selling toys. I'm just trying to write in a good story. This entire fic is character-driven which is why the entire plot itself is a bit messed up. I love myself some good storytelling and while the structure and the plot is pretty jumbled and mess, I find myself really enjoying the characters. The writing that I put in them is quite delicious enough to read through.

In this fic, I deliberately wrote Damian Wayne to be not as a bratty kid as he was before especially since he's 17 and he has matured. He now acts more like Classic TT Robin and Captain America, which is pretty cool. Starfire is still cute and kawaii but a hell of a lot more violent because of the war. The rest of the characters have absolutely wonderful interactions with each other that it almost makes me forget about the plot structure.

Despite me not liking this fic as much, I actually learn something. If you make the characters so likeable, dynamic, and combine it with colorful and interesting dialogues, then you won't care about plot structure. It's a slice of life thing. They usually have the worst plot structure ever, but the characters are so likeable and kind-hearted that you usually don't care. It's the magic of fiction right besides action that peoples underappreciate, which is why I strengthen them for this fic.

Oh and by the way, I know that some peoples might ask 'Where is Superman? Where is Clark Kent? This is General Zod! He's a Superman enemy!'. Since this takes place in an entirely new universe (in the spirit of the classic TT animated), I think references to Superman or Batman would be the last thing I'm worried about. Besides, Bruce is dead on this fic because I don't want him to be in this. I find the Bat Family a lot more interesting.

Superman? Well... I'm going to let you figure it out yourself.

And speaking of Man of Steel, that freaking climax battle was pretty brutal. Starfire just literally grabbed someone's head and blow it up. I lampshade it a couple of times with other characters, but I hand-waved it as well. It's pretty brutal and I think it's rather inappropriate for the T fan fiction rating, but I love it. It's when Titans can finally get mature to whatever stance they are and to enhance themselves to grow from their heroic status into something deeper than that. At least they try to seek diplomacy.

So in conclusion, despite me not finding the overall series to be that good, I liked it. It's not a really bad start for a sequel and I cannot wait to write off a sequel for this epic. However, that will be another time for another month... or maybe another year... or maybe never. We never know.

I'd give it 3/5. I liked it quite a bit and I'm glad that a lot of peoples are too. It's not the best of my work, but I'm certain that I can write better in the future.

So thanks for reading this bonus behind-the-scenes chapter of some sort. If you really love this fic and you wanted to see more of these kinds of stories, in additional to following and favoriting this fic, you can follow and favorite me personally as the author right down below. Thanks for reading and have a good time! :)


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